Summer Nights
by October Breeze
Summary: Yuffie arrives at Camp Kaman after Kairi convinced her it would be fun. What Kairi and the others think is fun turns out to be pure torture to Yuffie. Bugs, screaming kids, and mud don't create entertainment, and neither does getting in trouble! AU.
1. Camp

_This is my next story. I hope everyone enjoys it! By the way, this setting is in a normal world with normal people, if you could call the Kingdom Hearts characters that. I have also adjusted the ages, but not by much. And if you can tell, I gave the first-name-only people last names. Oh yeah, and I have Vanera thrown in there from my last story, just for fun. She evens the party. A good part of the story is going to be set in the summer camp, and for everyone's knowledge, I have never even been to one. I really don't know how they operate, so please, humor me. _

_Summer Nights_

_Chapter 1: Camp_

Yuffie dragged her two stuffed suitcases to the car and fought to see against the sun. It was a bright, ten o'clock morning, and just the beginning of summer. 

She opened up the trunk and hastily threw the suitcases in and made her way around to the driver seat. She was on her way to Camp Kaman to spend two horrifying weeks of her summer. Damn Kairi and her utter persuasiveness. She had begged and pleaded to be a counselor with her, Aerith, and Vanera, using the excuse that she had gone to the camp every summer and always dreamed of being a counselor. 

The leather seat was sticky and burning on Yuffie's bare legs as she sat down, and it would take nearly two hours to get there.

_This is wonderful, _Yuffie thought. 

She pushed a pair of sunglasses onto her eyes and started the car, making sure to roll down the window to let in some ventilation. 

In ten minutes she was on the highway, speeding high above the normal limit in an attempt to get there before it got past noon when things would really heat up. She turned up the radio and started singing along with the song. 

"Highway to hell..." she sang at the top of her lungs along with the chorus. She laughed at the people staring at her from their cars. Did she really have the volume up that loud?

She reached out her hand to turn it down a little bit, but decided against it. Who cares if she liked listening to music? It was her business, anyway. 

A little over a month ago she had been planning on getting a summer job, most likely a lifeguard, just so she could wear those hot little red suits. She could mingle with the guys, and yell at some kids. Yeah, that would have been fun. 

_Oh well, _a side of her said. _You can still yell at some little kids if you want to._

After driving for what seemed like hours, Yuffie pulled over at a gas station and filled up her car with a few more gallons of gas. It wouldn't hurt to be on the safe side. As Aerith always said, 'Better safe than sorry.' 

She removed the nozzle and grabbed her purse from the car to pay for the gas. She wiped her forehead and sighed. It was so hot outside, you could call it sizzling. 

The door was open and Yuffie could feel the joys of air conditioning. Thank God for modern science! She quickly skipped inside and breathed in the coolness deeply. 

_Hmm...maybe I should get a bottled water, too, and a candy bar..._

She grabbed bottle of water and huge chocolate Hershey's bar with almonds. Chocolate was her greatest weakness. 

She swiveled around from the candy section and bumped heavily into someone. The impact sent her and the other person sprawling on the ground, their purchases-to-be spilled everywhere. 

"Ow!" she exclaimed angrily. She turned to see who she had bumped into and found herself staring into an extremely attractive male face. He had deep, cobalt blue eyes and soft brown hair. He had a long scar running from his forehead to part of his nose. And he didn't look happy. 

"Watch where you're going," he muttered angrily and picked up his things. Yuffie stared at what he bought. Sun-screen and bug-spray. She looked back up at his face then snapped out of her trance.

"Sorry," she said quickly, uncharacteristically soft. 

She picked her and her items up and pushed past him, a light blush spreading across her cheeks. He shook his head and proceeded to the cash register behind her. 

The line was long, but moving quickly. She took her spot and waited a few minutes before it was her turn. She spread her things across the counter and told him what station her care was at, number two. 

"Your chocolate is broken. Want me to get you another one?" asked the cashier.

"Oh, no, that's okay," she said distantly and picked up her things. In a hurry, she got to her car, anxious to get inside and away from the gas station. What had come over her? She didn't usually act like that; usually she acted _slightly _sophisticated around cute guys. 

_It was his attitude, _she told herself unconvincingly. _He put me off with his rudeness._

She sighed and got herself back on the road. It wouldn't be long before she got to Camp Kaman. Already about a half and a quarter of the trip was past. It wouldn't be long before she would meet Kairi, Aerith, and Vanera at the entrance. 

The drive was as uneventful and boring as she expected. She pulled onto the gravel and grass of Camp Kaman and parked her car next to Kairi's. Thankfully, counselors could have their own cars with them instead of attending the bus with the kids. 

Other cars were jammed up together like they were fighting for parking space. Was she late for something? She didn't see any of the buses yet, but who knows?

She got out of the car and opened the trunk. Her suitcases were smoldering from being under the hot sun. The handles were warm when she picked it up. 

Despite her protests to being a counselor, she had to admit, the scenery was wonderful. After she had gotten off the highway, the roads become more country-like, and the foliage more bountiful. She could even see mountains in the distance. She must be seeing for miles, her vision unclouded by city pollution and buildings.

She dragged her suitcases through the entrance of the camp. 'Camp Kaman' was engraved into a wooden, rustic sign. 

She walked up a large, worn down trail, and then she noticed a large looking cabin off to the side. The doors and windows were propped open, and a sign in front of the door said, 'Counselor Orientation.' 

_Oh great...that's probably the office, _she thought. _Yeah, and I'm probably late!_

She peered into the open doorway. A bunch of metal gray chairs were lined up and occupied by young looking people. Around their legs were suitcases and duffel bags. In the front room four older people were talking to them. 

"Here at Camp Kaman, we try to make things completely and totally comfortable for the children. As you all know, the age range is from six to sixteen. Boys on one side of camp, girls on another. Boy counselors for boys, girl counselors for girls. It's simple," said a salt-and-pepper haired woman. She was dressed in green shirt that was tucked into a pair of khaki shorts that came down to her knees. On the left of her shirt, it said, 'Camp Kaman Instructor, Sheryl.'

"Exactly, Sheryl. Also, there are new and old counselors here. Junior counselors and senior counselors, so for the seniors this is a review. A cabin of children can have either one senior counselor, or two junior counselors. Of course at the end of this orientation, you will be assigned cabins," said a balding man with dark hair and wearing the same attire as Sheryl.  

"And," said the youngest person there, a middle-aged woman with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, "Counselors have a curfew, probably just like all of you back home. At the end of the day, around eight-thirty, the kids will be sent to their cabins with their counselors. At nine-thirty, the lights go out. Counselors _will _have free-time until ten-thirty. Punishments will be handed out to those who do not follow."

"Finally, to wrap this all up," said a bald man, "We instructors know how much you young people like to fool around on the job. Hopefully, you will take this all very seriously and turn down any sexual encounters. Alcohol and drug usage is _strictly _forbidden. If you are caught with it, you will immediately be sent home."

"Our next meeting will be on Friday. Now, please stay in your seats and I'll assign cabins," said the blonde woman. 

Yuffie slunk into the room and tried to make it to an empty chair in the back. 

"Hey, you girl," the blonde said. She held a clipboard. "I assume you are Yuffie Kisaragi?" 

"Yes," she mumbled. What was coming over her today?

"Don't be late again. Have your fellow counselors explain the rules to you, and here is your outfit that you will wear at all times unless said otherwise. You see, this was all explained before, and you would have known if you had been there." 

The woman handed her three of the same outfit she was wearing, only it said, 'Camp Kaman, Junior Instructor, Yuffie.' 

"Yes, ma'am." 

"Good. Now take your seat and I will assign cabins."

Yuffie quickly took her seat. She looked up momentarily and saw another figure in the doorway. Her heart almost stopped beating when she saw who it was. The man from the gas station! So he was a counselor as well? That would explain the sun-screen and bug-spray.

"Another late person? You must be Squall Leonheart," the woman said in a frustrated voice. She thrust him the clothes and didn't bother saying anything else. "Get a seat." 

He gave a nod and passed by Yuffie without acknowledging her. She bit her lip and stole a glance at him. He appeared angry. Maybe he was held up, before. 

"Okay, everyone, quiet down! There are ten cabins for each gender, and from five to seven kids in each. The cabins are B1 through B10, and G1 through G10. As you hear your name, find your fellow counselor mates, if you have one, and proceed outside for further directions."

Yuffie listened intently at the names called out. One caught her attention, though.

"In B7, junior counselors, Cloud Strife and Squall Leonheart!" 

She made a mental note of the cabin this Squall guy was in and listened for her name, praying that one of her friends would be in her cabin. 

"In G9, junior counselors, Yuffie Kisaragi and Kairi Harp!"

Yuffie stood up, relieved, and grabbed her suitcases and bundle of clothes. She searched over different heads for Kairi's distinct crimson red hair. 

She spotted Kairi holding two duffel bags and searching intently through the crowd. 

"Kairi! Over here!" Yuffie shouted. They ran up to each other and gave each other a hug. Kairi's indigo eyes were round and wide. 

"Yuffie, where were you? I thought you were a no show!" 

"Of course not. I called you earlier and told you I was coming."

"I know, but it's not like you to be late."

"I had a little run-in," Yuffie said with a trace of bitterness in her voice. They walked outside, in step. 

"Tell me about it, later. There's Sheryl over there. I've known her since I was six!" Kairi said excitedly. 

She sped up and joined the circle of counselors who already had their name called out. 

Yuffie took her time and looked around. It seemed like the cabins were all spaced out pretty well. She could see a few trees, then a bend where everything else must be. She joined Kairi and sighed. She had a feeling this whole counselor thing would be awhile. 

"Okay, the kids will be here any minute. The girls' cabins are down the northwest path, and the boys' cabins are down the northeast path. Find your cabins quickly and stand by the door to greet your kids. There will be an announcement later on once all of the buses are unloaded. Until then, you are free to help the kids unpack. You, however, will not see your cabins until the end of the day, so you must leave your things here," said Sheryl. She pointed to two picnic tables. 

Everyone moved to the picnic table and put it down, including Yuffie. She felt herself groaning inwardly. 

_That must mean we'll be on our feet all day..._she thought wearily. _I can already feel my calves aching._

Kairi turned to Yuffie and grabbed her hand, her eyes shining with excitement. 

"Come on, come on, we'll go see the cabin!" 

"Okay," Yuffie agreed reluctantly. They followed the path with the other counselors like blind sheep. Right where Sheryl said, there was a line of spaced out cabins with their numbers posted on the side of the doors. In between the different cabins were trees, benches, or open space. 

Yuffie and Kairi found their cabin easily and took a step back to look at it. It was a medium-sized cabin, with a deck in the front and two pots of flowers on the steps to get to the door. 

Kairi immediately went inside and motioned for Yuffie to follow. 

"C'mon, Yuf," she insisted. 

To tired to resist, Yuffie followed. There was a small entrance with hardwood floors and a mat against the two walls for shoes. The rest of the cabin was of very short carpeting. The doorway led to a small sitting area with a stone fireplace and a couch and armchair. The last room held three sets of bunk beds and dressers.

"Oh my gosh, we might have nine kids with us!" 

"Better than ten," Kairi said cheerfully. 

"What's that?" Yuffie questioned. She could hear strange chanting. It sounded very...evil. 

"The kids. They're singing the Camp Kaman song! Let's go out and wait on the porch."

Yuffie's mouth dropped. Those were _kids _singing that? She followed Kairi and leaned against the wooden railing. 

They waited for fifteen minutes, and then overheard names being called out. It took another five minutes for a bunch of giggly girls and hormonal teenagers to come up the path. Yuffie leaned toward Kairi and asked, "Kairi...we aren't getting the sixteen year olds, are we? We're almost the same age as them!" 

"Oh no. The older, more experienced senior counselors get to handle those. You have to be a junior counselor for three years until you get to their status."

Yuffie scoffed. Status? The way Kairi said it, it sounded like a luxury.

A group of timid girls that looked about six and seven approached them. Yuffie counted heads. Six kids in all. She sighed. So that would mean three extra beds.

Kairi put her hands on her knees and bent down closer to their level of vision.

"Hi girls, we're going to be your camp counselors from now on. My name is Kairi, and this is Yuffie," she said. Yuffie gave a little wave. 

One older looking girl gave a glare to Yuffie. "I don't like you. Eat dust!" 

She threw a fistful of dirt at Yuffie's face. 

"Oh my gosh, you little brat—"

Kairi nudged her. 

"What's your name?" she asked the girl who threw dirt. She clasped her hands together.

"Cindy," she said in a sweet voice. 

"Cindy, that wasn't very nice. Say sorry to Yuffie."

"Sorry, Yuffie," Cindy said and cast her eyes to the ground. When Kairi wasn't looking, she stuck her tongue out at her. 

_I am not going to make it out of here alive..._Yuffie thought sorrowfully. 

______________________________________________________________________________

_Okay, I know this sounds mean, but here's the deal. If I don't get enough reviews I'm going to stop writing it, or if I lose interest. But with a lot of encouraging reviews I will continue writing! Oh yeah, I know Kairi's last name isn't Harp, but I had to make it up. _

_Also, the pairings will show up later. And I don't think the whole story will take place here, but it might. I think things will start getting better after this, because the first chapter was very technical and all. And there's a little surprise coming up, but you can probably figure it out._

_And I know this probably won't be my best story, but I'm going to attempt to write a story that is light on tragedy. But who knows, some things my wicked, evil minds comes up with to torture everyone...I think I need mental help. ^-^_

_So now, review, since you kindly read through the whole story. You bothered to read this, so why not? Just move your mouse a little over there, that's right...down there... _


	2. The Gremlins

_Hey, it's me again! This is my second chapter. I'm kind of disappointed that I only got...*sob* 5 reviews for my first chapter, but I know that my horrible summaries don't appeal to everyone! Thank you to those who have reviewed!_

Annjirika- _Awww thanks for your review! That made me really happy to hear you say that. And you actually signed in! I'm touched! I love your style of writing too, and I really thought that "I Saw the Sign" was cute!!!_

Deplora- _Thanks for your review! You've reviewed for *almost* every one of my stories, so that's great. Geez...I see your reviews pop up everywhere! Ha ha, where do you find the time to read so many stories? And then you write so many? And you're in college?!?!? Whoa..._

Pingpong867- _Thanks for your review! It's great that you like my story! Yeah, you'll be able to see Aerith might possibly have a heart attack over the kids. More like...gremlins. You're another one who I see a lot for my reviews. Actually...it seems like all of your names are familiar! Hmm..._

BlueEyedDemon10- _YAY! You like my story! Hee hee, it makes me happy when I get reviews! They're a popular addiction among fellow fanfic-ers. Ah...I just love reviews!!!_

Regno Cuore- _Another review GREATLY appreciated. First chapters are important to get reviews because it's one of the things people look at (at least I do) and the summary, and I can't write summaries in that little space. I know, I got the same "traffic" thing today too, but only on this one story. And if Yuffie chased an innocent (yeah right) little kid around she would get punished and sent home! And what kind of story would that be?_

_Okay! I don't think I missed anyone. If I did then I am soo sorry, but sometimes the website gets messed up and doesn't show me all of my reviews. Grrr...!_

________________________________________________________________________________

Summer Nights

Chapter Two: 

______________________________________________________________________________________

Yuffie put her hands on her hips, glaring at that little Cindy brat. 

"Okay guys, c'mon, let's go, into the cabin to pick out bunks. First one there gets first pick!" Kairi shouted. 

The kids stomped into the cabin without bothering to take off their shoes and leaving a mess on the carpet. Yuffie shook her head and leaned on Kairi's shoulder.

"You know Kai, you _really_ _should _pick out a better job next summer," she said with a slight smile. Kairi rolled her eyes and ducked under Yuffie's arm to follow the kids, whom Yuffie had officially named, "The Gremlins."

Yuffie followed her in and stood by the doorframe of the cabin, her arms crossed. The Gremlins were all climbing onto one certain top bunk when there were two other ones to claim. She could have sworn she even heard growling.

"I want this one!" came a high-pitched child's voice.

"No, I do!"

"Me!"

"ME!" 

"NOO ME!"

"I was here first!"

"NO I WAS!"

Fed up with the screaming, Yuffie climbed onto the step ladder where they were all fighting for a spot and picked up the first two girls she saw and handed them to Kairi who was waiting at the bottom. 

Kairi carried the girls and put them on separate top bunks. Yuffie grabbed the last two girls off the other bunk and put them on the ground to let them choose from the remaining floor beds.

Before they could moan or whine that _they _wanted the top bunk, she said quickly, "We'll switch beds every so often, so quit crying!" 

They gave her a wide-eyed stare and went to sit on their bed. Yuffie breathed out, satisfied.

"Wow, Yuf, you may be able to do this job!" Kairi said with a laugh. 

"Oh, ha ha..." Yuffie said sarcastically. Kairi ignored her comment, although she wasn't used to Yuffie acting so sarcastic and rude. Hopefully they would have time to talk later...

"All right, guys, hurry up and unpack into the drawers and put up your decorations. From what I've heard, we're going to start something soon!" Kairi said with a clap of her hands. Yuffie exited the room and collapsed onto the couch in the sitting area.

She watched from her spot on the couch as The Gremlins put up posters, Christmas lights, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and the like. As each one finished, they shyly sat on their beds and looked at Kairi. 

"All right, everyone into the living area for some time to get to know each other," she heard Kairi say. There was shuffling sounds and the Gremlins shyly made their way into the room and sprawled out on the couches, floor, and step on the fireplace.

"I'll start. My name is Kairi Harp; I'm 17 years old, I love little animals, and my favorite food is tofu." 

Yuffie rolled her eyes with a friendly smile to Kairi and said, "My name is Yuffie Kisaragi; I'm eighteen years old, I like to eat little children, and my favorite food is brains."

Their eyes widened and one of them screamed. 

"Yuffie, you're impossible! Guys, she was kidding. She really likes Chinese food and she loves to write poetry." 

"Well you're a party-pooper," Yuffie retorted. 

"Next!" Kairi said and glanced at Cindy.

"My name is Cindy Young; I'm seven and a quarter, I like my stuffed pig Googy, and yummy stuff is cookies," she said in a soft voice. Yuffie just knew she was putting on an act for Kairi.

The little girl next to her started. She was the smallest one, with feathery blonde hair that went to her shoulders and bright blue eyes. "My name is Lexi Jeanine; I'm six, I like my color crayons, and I like popsicles."

Yuffie smiled at her. She seemed so quiet. Maybe she would be a little more relaxed in the days to come.

A young girl with long black hair with thick curls and dark brown almond eyes said, "My name is Mai Yukiko, I'm eight, I like my mommy's special egg rolls, and also I like my pretty necklace," she said happily and opened up her clutched hand to reveal a plastic bead necklace.

All of the girls put their hands to their mouths and made cooing sounds. 

"Shut-up, it's my turn! I'm Sarah Jones..."

"I'm Kara Custard..."

"My name is Val Lemmings..."

The last three girls out of the six stated a few facts about themselves. Just as everyone was finishing up, a loud announcement was heard.

"All counselors bring their kids to the outdoor stage!" shouted a voice. "I repeat, all counselors bring their kids to the outdoor stage!"

Yuffie stood up and headed towards the door. 

"Yuffie, where are you going?" Kairi called.

"Umm...to the outdoor stage?"

"We need to take the kids there, we can't skip ahead. Besides I have to show you where it is!"

"Oh yeah..." Yuffie muttered.

"Stop being so down. Come on. Okay, kids, let's all sing the Camp Kaman song on the way there!"

They walked down a trodden path to the outdoor stage, the Gremlins singing the horrible Camp Kaman song that went to the tune of "I Want Candy" and was repeated incessantly over and over :

_Camp, camp, camp—camp—camp!_

_Camp, camp, camp—camp—camp!_

_You know that place where I belong?_

_Camp, camp, camp—camp—camp!_

_Yelling all night and day in song!_

_Camp, camp, camp—camp—camp!_

_You know that place called Kaman?_

_Camp, camp, camp—camp—camp!_

_It just makes me say, "Amen!"_

_Camp, camp, camp—camp—camp!_

_I want Kaman!_

_I want Kaman!_

When they finally reached the stage, almost all of the chairs were filled up with both boys and girls, young and old, and all of the counselors were standing around the stage. 

"Oh no, I hope we can find some spots," Kairi said and searched for open seats.

"Right over there," Yuffie said and pointed to the very back right corner of chairs.

Kairi spotted it and herded the kids to the seats. Yuffie looked at all of the counselors, particularly male. There was a tall, blonde one wearing a peculiar blood red cape that made him look foolish, and hair that stuck up in unimaginable ways.

She saw an attractive silver-haired boy (How strange, she thought) and another crazy-haired loony wearing unbearably warm looking clothes. 

Then, she saw _him. _The man from the gas station. He was leaning against the stage, his arms folded and a blank, nonchalant look on his face. Long russet bangs fell into his icy blue eyes. He glanced over at her. She looked away quickly, embarrassed about being caught staring.

"Yuffie! What _are _you doing?" Kairi gasped. She shook her head and sat down the last girl and made her way to the stage. Yuffie sprinted to catch up with her and took her place next to Kairi with the other counselors.

Someone had plugged in a microphone, and a long, blaring noise filled the air, making everyone groan. There was a tapping sound, and one of the instructors from earlier came out onto the stage, tapping the top. 

"Testing...testing..." he said. "Good. Quiet down everyone—hey! I said...I SAID QUIET!" he yelled. 

Immediately a hush fell upon the young audience. 

"Thank you. I would just like to say, welcome to Camp Kaman!"

There was a loud cheer and applause.

"Over the summer you will all be involved in a schedule of fun, planned events and you will develop lasting friendships. Your stay is only four short weeks, so make the best of it. We all hope everyone..."

Yuffie's mind wandered and she cast a sidelong glance at the man that had been called Squall Leonheart. What a mysterious name. Just like him. She sighed and stared into his eyes. She felt like she could be lost in those beautiful eyes forever. 

He looked at her again. 

"Damnit!" Yuffie cursed. It was the second time he had caught her staring. She felt a sharp jab in her side. She looked up quickly, and hissed a sharp, "What?"

Kairi's eyes were wide, and she noticed a dead silence. She looked to see that somehow the four instructors had gotten on the stage without her knowing, and they were all staring at her. She covered her mouth. 

_How loud did I say that?_

Her eyes lowered to her feet and she felt a slight blush on her cheeks. Why did everyone have to stop what they were doing just because she had sworn?

Sheryl cast her a sharp glance and continued on talking. Yuffie crossed her arms and sighed, listening intently just so she wouldn't be caught off guard again.

The rest of the day passed by rather slowly, ending in a large campfire in an open clearing with all of the kids and counselors roasting hot-dogs and marshmallows. 

Yuffie bit into her hot-dog and listened as everyone familiarized and told each other jokes. Kairi sat next to her, looking at her hot dog in disgust. She raised it to her lips for another bite, but Kairi couldn't stop staring at it.

"What?" she asked.

"How could you eat that? It was just an anima—"

"Kairi—please—not again!"

"Well, you know how I feel about that..." she trailed off when the silver haired boy and the crazy boy passed by them, looking around.

"Who is that?" Kairi said in a hushed whisper. 

"Silver bells?" Yuffie asked, immediately nicknaming him. She realized she had a nickname for almost everything. 

She shook her head. "No, the brown haired one."

"The crazy-head?!" she gasped. The two boys looked in her direction, then approached them. Kairi dug her nails into Yuffie's arm. 

"O-Ow...uhh—ouch! Hi..." Yuffie said. 

"Hi, my name is Sora, and this is Riku. Mind if we sit with you? There are no other open logs," said the crazy-haired boy. He gave her a strange look. 

"Yes! Sit with us," Kairi said quickly. 

They sat down, holding their hot dogs carefully. 

"So...are you counselors here, too?" Yuffie asked around a bite of hot dog. 

"Uh-huh," Silver bells, or Riku, answered in a deep voice. 

"Just ignore Riku. He doesn't talk much. I think he's missing some brains," Sora said and started laughing. 

Riku shoved him a little and took a bite of hot dog. Sora turned to Kairi and held up his hot dog. 

"You don't have a hot dog? You should get one. They're so good here," Sora said, and proceeded to jam the whole thing into his mouth. Mustard and relish was smeared all over his cheeks.

Kairi nodded vigorously. "Oh yes! I love hot dogs!" 

Yuffie turned around and stared at her. "But I thought you just said—" 

"_Don't _I Yuffie?" she said slowly.

"Uh...yes, I mean, you are definitely _not a vegetarian, _no way, no how," Yuffie replied with a little grin. "Those fattening hot dogs of lard just really get you excited!" 

She glared at her and Yuffie broke down into giggles. 

"So, what are your names?" Sora asked when he finally managed to swallow. 

"My name is Yuffie, and this is Kairi. We have some other friends here, but we can't seem to find them..." 

"Their names aren't Aerith and Vanera, are they?" Silver bells asked. 

"Yes! Have you seen them?" Yuffie asked anxiously while she felt Kairi scooting closer to Sora. 

"Yeah, we know them. They were looking for a Yuffie and Kairi."

"Hear that, Kai?" Yuffie asked, and switched her gaze to Kairi. She was watching Sora stuff himself with another hot dog that someone had handed him. 

"Kairi? Hello?" Yuffie called in a long, exaggerated voice.

"Yes?" Kairi asked.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

She sighed. "Sil—Riku said that Aerith and Vanera was looking for us."

"Mmm..." she murmured. 

Yuffie raised her eyebrows. She had never seen Kairi so taken with anyone before. It was almost...disgusting. Her indigo eyes were round and shining. No one in their right mind should swoon over one dumb guy like that!

"Come on, Kai, dinner is almost over and we have to find Aerith and Vanera before we round up the Gremlins."

"The Gremlins?" Silver bells inquired.

"Yeah," Yuffie said sheepishly. "Our kids."

"Oh," he said with a smirk, then went back to eating his hot dog and staring into the fire.

"Kai! Kairi!" Yuffie said. She grabbed her arm and started to pull her up. 

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Kairi said. She brushed herself off and seemed to come back to hers senses. "Sorry...bye Sora! Bye Riku!"

They waved goodbye. 

"You really like him don't you?" Yuffie asked while looking around. 

"Was it that obvious?"

"It was so obvious I can't even believe you asked me that question."

Kairi had a smile on her face. 

Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around quickly and was confronted by large green eyes and behind them a pair of light blue ones. 

"Aerith! Vanera!" Yuffie exclaimed as she reached out to hug them both. Aerith was dressed in her counselor outfit, as well as Vanera. They both had their thick auburn hair swept up into a ponytail. 

"You never wear your hair in a ponytail," Yuffie said. 

"I know, but with the bugs and the mud and the kids..." Aerith trailed off. They had gotten the picture.

"What's up with her?" Vanera asked. She stared at Kairi, who was staring off into the fire. 

"She met some boy that made her flip. She even said she loved hot dogs."

Vanera widened her eyes. "Wow. That's amazing. Who is the lucky guy?"

"Sora."

"No way! Sora? He's one of my close friends!" 

"He told us you were looking for us," she said with a nod.

"Not to change the subject, but what cabin are you in?" Aerith cut in.

"I'm with Kairi in G9."

"That's great! Vanera and I are counselors for G2." 

Yuffie nodded and walked closer to the fire. The air was chillier outside at night, while the afternoons were unbearable. 

Sheryl cupped her hands around her mouth and said, "Counselors gather your kids and take them back to the cabins! Get ready for bed then report back to the fire clearing!"

Vanera stood next to Yuffie without moving until Aerith had to drag her to help her get their kids. Kairi turned to her, coming out of thought.

"All right, I think I saw Mai and Lexi over there," Kairi said. They rounded up all of the girls and followed the path back to the cabin. They made a quick stop at the bathroom and had them brush their teeth and wash their faces. 

"Why do we need to wash our faces?" Lexi asked.

"Uhh..." Yuffie stuttered. "So you don't get pimples when you're a teenager. 

They hurried and left to the cabin. Yuffie had to hoist Lexi onto her waist. She had almost fallen asleep in a bush. Finally, they made it to the cabin. Yuffie held the door open for everyone and the tired Gremlins dragged themselves into their rooms. But they looked more normal now, like drained and exhausted girls. 

They started to fall down onto the floor and collapse onto the couch.

"Ah, ah, ah! Everyone into their beds, come on, get up!" Kairi said. They moaned a little but seemed too tired to do any more protests. They climbed into their beds and almost immediately fell asleep. 

"Guess we should turn off the lights early," Kairi whispered. Yuffie gave her a reproving nod and flicked off the lights. They stumbled through the darkness into the outdoors, which was only slightly lighter from the moonlight. 

The path that led to the fire clearing was easy to spot, since it was marked with a flashy neon marker. Already, other groups of counselors were coming down the path. They caught up with Aerith and Vanera and walked in their small group. 

Sheryl and the other woman stood by the fire, waiting for the counselors. 

"Everyone, over here!" 

They gathered around. It gave Yuffie a chance to see how many counselors there were. There were quite a few, not too much, or too little. 

"All right, the cabins are just down that path, and four counselors will be living in each one. The occupant's names will be posted on the door along with the cabin number. Understand? They're just over that bridge."

Sheryl pointed to a small creek with a bridge crossing over the top of it. She could see cabins and lights coming from their windows. She couldn't believe she didn't notice it before.

"Well, get moving! Don't just stand there," Sheryl urged, and the counselors started down to the bridge. 

Yuffie skipped ahead of everyone else to get a first glance at where she would be living for the rest of her stay. She observed the doors for names, but neither hers nor her friend's names showed up. 

On cabin number four, she finally found her name. 

"Guys, over here! We're all in a cabin together!" she called happily. They bounced over to her and all tried to get into the doorway. Yuffie stomped her foot. "Wait for me!"

The inside was one large room, with two large closets, a couch, a mini-refrigerator, and four twin beds. Their stuff was already set down by the door. 

Yuffie collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. "I am so tired..."

Vanera nodded and yawned. She pulled her ponytail out and shook out her hair. 

"We should go to sleep quickly and get up our rest," Aerith advised.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Yuffie murmured, already kicking off her shoes and taking off her clothes to sleep in her camisole and underwear. She crawled under the sheets as someone turned off the lights. 

______________________________________________________________________________

_This isn't one of my favorite chapters ever, but it was really long. I have so much planned for them already it's not even funny. I never realized the possibilities with having the setting of the story in a camp! I finally finished this late at night...well, early morning. I'm going to collapse on this keyboard if I don't get some sleep. So this gets posted tomorrow...review, as always..._

_~October Breeze~_


	3. Water Grave

This is the third chapter! Wow. I actually got up off my butt to start a new document. It was all thanks to my wonderful reviewers! I hope everyone likes it. I have been so busy and tired lately, so I'm sorry if I'm a little off. Pathetic excuse, I know, but it's true! You know how people say, "It's been one of those weeks," or, "It's been one of those days." Well, it's been "one of those months!" Hah...well, please review when you're finished reading. 

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Summer Nights

Chapter Three: 

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The early morning sun had yet to rise, and the sky was gray and only just starting to clear. Yuffie stood with her three friends, Aerith, Vanera, and Kairi, and looked at the neon green poster that hung on the office wall. The children woke up at six in the morning on the dot, meaning they had a half hour to themselves. Yuffie rubbed her eyes and tried to read the poster.

_Attention Counselors:_

_We will be holding a party/meeting in honor of our new counselors, as well as the start of a whole new year at __Camp__Kaman__. Beverages and snacks will be provided. We will be discussing different techniques to teach, games to play throughout the stay, and any technical issues that may arise. This will open up a whole new opportunity to meet and converse with other counselors and share stories amongst you. Of course this meeting will be completely optional, but keep in mind mandatory meetings will pop up from time to time. We highly recommend you attend, optional or not. _

_After the meeting half is over, there will be dancing around the campfire and perhaps a surprise or two. _

_Be there at __9:30 P.M__, after lights out. It will end around __1:00 A.M.__ Yes, the curfew has been adjusted for this special party!_

_Your__ Head Instructor,_

_Sheryl_

Yuffie rolled her eyes and mimicked Sheryl in the poster.

"This will be a great opportunity to meet and converse with other counselors. This is purely optional, not mandatory!" she said with a laugh. 

Kairi gave her a little shove. "Hey, I like Sheryl. I practically grew up around her!"

"We _know _Kairi!" they all chorused together. 

She crossed her arms and gave a little pout, blowing a strand of crimson red hair out of her eyes. 

Vanera laughed and put a playful hand on her hip. "And what are you pouting about, Kai?"

"Just because I'm younger you guys pick on me!" she huffed.

"No, we definitely do not pick on you, Kairi," Aerith said and gave a warning glance at Yuffie and Vanera. 

Yuffie tilted her head with a grin. 

"Hey!" Vanera shouted suddenly. Yuffie turned around, confused. 

"What?" 

She noticed Vanera was waving to Sora, Riku, the blonde, and...

"Squall..." Yuffie breathed. Aerith touched her arm.

"You all right, Yuf?"

"Fine," she said quickly. She gave her another glance and nodded.

The four men came up to the four girls and faced them. 

"Hey guys, what's with the crowd?" Sora asked. 

"There's a poster up, something about a party," Vanera explained.

"A party? We are so there!" Sora said enthusiastically. He started to run to see the poster for himself when someone grabbed him by the collar of his counselor outfit.

"Hold it. Weren't you just saying how you had something to do tonight?" said a deep voice. Sora turned to look at Squall and swatted at his hand and was quickly rewarded with a death glare. 

"Tonight? Yeah, but...that can wait..." Sora said, then his eyes lit up. "Oh YEAH!"

Riku crossed his arms and shook his head and muttered, "God, aren't you bright?"

Yuffie glared suspiciously. "What are you guys up to?"

Sora was quick to change the subject. A little too quick, in Yuffie's opinion. 

"Hey, I never introduced my friends to you. This is Cloud," he said, and pointed to the spiky blonde with deep blue eyes, "And this is Sq—"

"Leon."

"Yeah, Leon Leonheart," Sora said with gusto. 

Vanera raised her eyebrows. "Leon Leonheart? Uhh...I have to meet your parents."

"We've met," Yuffie stated.

"You have?" Sora said.

"On the way here, Leon rudely bumped into me and made me spill everything. He broke my chocolate!"

He narrowed his eyes. "I think you were the one that bumped into me."

"Are you accusing me of being a klutz?"

"No I wasn't, but now that you mention it—"

"That's enough, you two," Aerith cut in.

"But he—"Yuffie whined.

"Yuffie."

"I—"

"All counselors report to the cabins! Six o'clock! All counselors report to the cabins! Six o'clock!"

She heaved a sigh and they went their separate ways. She opened the door with force and it slammed into the outside wood, making a huge crashing sound. 

Lexi raised her head sleepily from the pillow and rubbed her eyes. "Morning already?"

"Yes, rise and shine," Yuffie said bitterly.

"Come on, up, up, up!" Kairi sang. 

Moans and groans came from beneath the covers. 

"Have you guys forgotten already? We're going to swim all day at the lake today!" 

Even more moans were heard.

Kairi threw off the blankets on their beds and clapped her hands. "I said up!"

Six tired children crawled out of bed and lazily shoved through the bathroom like in slow motion. They took their toothbrushes and started to brush their cheeks while missing their mouth.

Yuffie leaned over to Kairi. "What's up with the Gremlins?"

"I don't know. They're never this tired. What if they...what if they fall asleep in the lake, today?!" 

"That won't happen. The water is freezing. I was thinking more along the lines of...what did they do last night?"

Kairi narrowed her eyes. "I don't know. See anything suspicious?"

They started hunting all around the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Shoved under one of the unused bunks was a bag full of glitter, tiny pom-poms, crepe paper, plastic jewels, paper, pencils, and glue sticks. 

Yuffie pulled up the bag and walked into the bathroom, holding it high into the air. 

"All right, you guys are busted. Whose is this and where did it come from?"

They all gave each other sideways glances. 

"It's m-mine," Mai said softly. 

"And what were you doing with it?"

"Making...crafts."

"When?"

"Last night."

"With who?"

"Everyone!" Mai burst out, her eyes full of sorry tears. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Yuffie sighed and gripped the bag in her hand. "I don't want to do this to you guys, but there will be no lake outing today. It was supposed to be hot and clear outside, too. But that shouldn't matter, because you didn't want to go to the lake a few minutes ago."

She exited the room and swept past Kairi onto the couch seat. She looked troubled.

"Don't you think you went kind of hard on them? Part of being at camp is breaking the rules and having fun," Kairi said.

"No I don't think I went hard on them at all. If they're going to go behind my back then they will have to be punished for it."

She sighed and sat next to her. "I guess you're right."

"I wonder what they were doing with all of that stuff?" Yuffie mused. 

Kairi shrugged and wiped her forehead. "Oh Yuf, you just had to stop them from going to the lake! It is burning up here and it will be even hotter after lunch when they're supposed to go."

"You can go without us, and I'll watch the kids."

"I couldn't do that to you guys."

"Why not? Go ahead, Aerith and Vanera will be up there."

"Fine..."

Sullenly, the kids tracked down to the mess hall and ate breakfast of oatmeal and fruit. The morning passed by horribly slow, and by the time it was noon Yuffie could see the warm air rising.

From the window, Yuffie watched Kairi follow the trail to the crystal clear and cool lake. She sighed and turned to the girls who were talking and pairing off into groups. She never really noticed how much younger children paired off into little cliques. 

Mai, Lexi, and Val, the quieter and shyer girls, were huddled together and talking, while Cindy, Sarah, and Kara; the older, bossier girls were dominating the couch.

She pressed her back against the open window, the little, almost non-existent breeze doing nothing to ease her dizzy feeling. The Gremlins spared glances at her and continued to talk quietly amongst themselves. This went on for a half hour; glancing at Yuffie, then talking.

"So...what were you guys doing with the crafts?" Yuffie said finally.

They gave each other secret glances, until Mai retreated to her part of the dresser and pulled out an envelope. She slowly walked to Yuffie and gave it to her. They had Yuffie's and Kairi's name on it.

"What's this?" 

"What we made last night after light's out..."

"Can I look?"

She backed away shyly with a nod. 

Yuffie opened the envelope and out fell a card decorated with the glitter, tiny pom-poms, and other little decorations and in a big heart it said, "THANK YOU FOR BEING OUR COUNSELORS!"

"Oh...you guys I am so sorry..." she said softly. She ran a finger over their work and felt ashamed for making a big deal over everything. 

A smile formed on her lips and she put the card back down on the couch. 

"There's still time for more swimming. We can go right now, if everyone wants to."

The Gremlins nodded vigorously, and scrambled to get their bathing suits on. Yuffie grinned and hoped that this was enough to cheer them up from her mean behavior. 

After everyone was dressed and ready, they headed out towards the lake, making one quick stop at Yuffie's cabin to get her bathing suit. It was a bikini covered in little pastel rose petals. It wasn't really her taste, but it set off her black hair, as Kairi liked to remind her.

As they walked through the brush, the lake appeared, smooth and sparkling in the midday sun. Children were playing in the shallows and building sandcastles with the sand and mud on the shore, while counselors talked in the deeper waters. 

Yuffie squealed when she saw Kairi swimming away from everyone else, talking to Sora. She waved her arms vigorously to get her attention. 

"Kaaaiiiirriiiiii!" she shouted with one arm in the air. Kairi looked around as she heard her name and noticed Yuffie. She exchanged a few words with Sora and swam onto shore, leaving Sora behind. 

"Yuffie! Did you change your mind, then?" she asked with a shiver. She was soaked from head to foot and dripping all over Yuffie's feet.

"Yeah...the Gremlins have already found something to do," she said with a laugh and glanced at the girls talking to their other camp friends and building a sandcastle. "When we get back I have to show you something..."

Kairi looked at her curiously. "Okay... Oh! Vanera and Aerith are somewhere sunbathing on this beach, I just don't know where..."

Yuffie nodded. "Who's that over there?" she asked smugly, referring to the crazy haired kid.

A light blush spread across Kairi's cheeks. "N-nothing, Sora and I were just talking and swimming..."

"Suuure...and my name is Mrs. Yuffie Leonheart..."

"Huh?" 

It was Yuffie's turn to blush. Did she just say that out loud? God damnit! "Uh...uh...nothing, I just made up a random name..."

She gave her a look, then shrugged it off. "The name sounds familiar."

Yuffie gave Kairi a little shove toward the water. "Go see Sora; he's waiting for you out there." 

"O-okay..." Kairi faltered and gave Yuffie another look. "You okay? Are you sure you don't want me to stay here?"

"Of course I'm fine, go talk to him!" she said with frustration. Kairi held up her hands and waded into the water. Yuffie sighed with relief and sat down on the sand, observing the scene.

It looked like just about everyone had come. Sheryl and the other three instructors, the counselors, and all of the kids. A group of guys were sitting around a table. Her breath caught in her throat. It was Silver Bells, Blondie, and if they were both here then the other one must be...

_Squall Leonheart._

Yuffie held her breath and watched him. His long russet bangs fell into his eyes. Her gaze drifted down his face to his bare shoulders, then to his muscular chest and stomach. Her face heated up when she saw he was only wearing a swimming trunks. 

She started to fan her face and let go of her breath that she forgot she was holding. 

"Snap out of this, Yuffie, it is pathetic. This guy is ruining you..." she said softly to herself. She spared another glance in his direction, but this time he caught her peeking. 

She turned her head sharply away and heard the loud crack of her neck. She cringed at the noise, then stood up. Riku was her friend, and certainly she could befriend Blondie, so why not this Squall? She took a deep breath in and out, and self consciously adjusted her bikini. 

Yuffie walked to the table and sat next to Riku. 

"Hi, guys, having fun?" she asked, more of herself coming back and less of the shy Yuffie. 

"Sure," Riku sighed. "All the hot chicks are taken and I have to resort to company by these two. Even my best friend ditched me."

Yuffie giggled and looked at Cloud. "What about you?" 

"Same old same old."

Yuffie turned to say the same to Squall, when he interrupted with, "Don't even ask." 

She scowled. "What's wrong with you?" 

Cloud answered for him. "Don't mind Squall. He's a little bit...moody."

"It's Leon."

_"__Leon__," _Cloud repeated. 

Yuffie tilted her head to one side. This would be harder than she thought. 

"So...uhh...anyone want to go swimming?" she asked.

"Sure, why not..." Riku said sadly. 

"Oh c'mon, Riku, I bet you could have your pick at any one of these girls here!" 

"Yes, but I only want one of them..." he said under his breath, but Yuffie was sharp enough to catch it. She chose to say nothing about it, just to spare him the embarrassment. Who might the lucky girl be?

She stood up with her mind set. "Right! Then it's decided. Come on everyone, the lake is waiting!"

She started to jog over to the lake's edge but noticed they weren't following her. She went back to the table and grabbed Riku's arm, pulling him roughly out of his seat onto the sand. 

"You're next, Pam Anderson..." she said to Cloud because of his extremely blonde "Pam Anderson" colored hair. 

"Oh, c'mon, don't call me that. I think I'll stand myself, thank you," he said bashfully. He helped Riku up from the ground, who was pretending to be having spasms on the ground because of Yuffie. 

She smiled lightly and took Squall's arm. "You have to go too."

"I don't have to do anything," he said crossly. 

She tugged on his arm. "I'll annoy you indefinitely if you don't come."

"Try me."

Yuffie grinned and cleared her throat, then lowered her face to his ear. 

"OO-oh say can you see, by the dawn's early bright, what so proudly we hailed, at the...!" 

Riku and Cloud clutched their hands over their ears. 

Squall crossed his arms and muttered, "Those aren't even the right lyrics..."

She continued to scream in his ear. Finally he stood up and knocked Yuffie over in the process. 

"Whatever...I'll swim..."

"Yay! There, the lake, over yonder!" she said giddily. 

"Uhh...Yuffie...you _do _know that drugs are bad for you, right?" Cloud said, then burst into laughter.

She frowned. "I'm not high, thank you very much."

She stuck a toe in the water and yelped. It was freezing!

"Come on in Yuffie, remember how much you wanted to go swimming?" 

"Umm...maybe we should go over to the diving platform and jump off..." she said. 

Once she was on the platform, which was rather high, she turned around and tried to run off of it, but Cloud caught her. 

"Nope, you have to jump." 

"I...don't...want...to..." she said hysterically. "Afraid of...of...heights!"

With the help of Riku, he steered her over to the edge. She teetered then gripped onto his arm. 

"No, no, no! Don't make me!" she moaned. 

"Look, I'll go first," Riku offered. "Watch!" 

He went over to the edge without hesitation and jumped down. Yuffie screeched and covered her eyes. She heard a loud splash, then laughter. 

"See, he's fine." 

She peered over the edge. Riku was swimming at the bottom, waving at her. 

"Why don't we jump together?" he asked. 

"No! Let-me-go!" she said through clenched teeth. 

"Fine, I'll jump next..." Cloud said. "Here Leon, watch her." 

"If she doesn't want to, don't make her..." Squall said with his arms still crossed.

Before he heard what Cloud said he had already jumped off the platform, leaving Yuffie and Squall alone. 

She inched over to the edge and looked down. They were both waving for her to come down. She glanced back at Squall. He was watching her by the step ladder. There was either jump, or tell Squall to move.

"Let me get out." 

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Just jump."

"But what if I don't want to?"

She had her back to the edge, and was crossing her arms. "Just let me out..."

He approached her, and her first instinct was to step backward...which she foolishly did. 

She screamed loudly as she fell, back first, to the water. Squall leaned over the edge and watched her fall. Tears reached her eyes right before she felt the painful slap of water on her bare skin and a sharp jutting stab, then nothing. 

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I am evil! This is such a cliffy. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I was going to do the party scene in this chapter but everything was getting too long, so you'll have to wait until the next one. REVIEW, please! Thanks! 


	4. A Camp Party Gone Wrong

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_Summer Nights_

_Chapter Four_

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Sunlight shined through the blinds of the windows, warming the bed sheets. Cool air washed over Yuffie slowly, easing a dull throb on her back. She opened her eyes and found herself in a small room. A small table was at the side of the bed with a glass of water and two aspirins sitting on top. 

She glanced uneasily from one side to the next, seeing no one to fill her in on what happened. A vent on one of the windows made a whirring noise and cold air blew out. She sighed. How come her cabin couldn't have air-conditioning?

Tenderly, she sat up and felt sharp stabs in her back. She twisted around to look at her back, which was still bare since she was wearing her bikini. A long, deep gash ran across her skin. She winced and turned around, the day's earlier events playing in her mind. 

There was a soft knock on the door, and a short, stout woman walked in. Her white hair was wild and sticking up everywhere, like she had brushed it backwards. There was a warm, concerned smile on her face that made her skin into wrinkles. 

"I see you're up, dear. You had quite a fall," she said in a grandmother-like voice.

"What happened?" Yuffie asked with a groan. 

"You fell of the diving platform backwards and when you fell into the water a rock ripped at your back. You're very lucky it didn't stab right through you!" she said with a laugh.

Yuffie's face paled visibly.

"Oh, don't worry, I don't think that would have happened," said the woman pleasantly. "Take those aspirin. As long as you keep the wound disinfected you should be fine. It was this close from needing stitches!" 

She held up two fingers with a tiny bit of space between them. 

Yuffie nodded again, still looking pale, and popped the pills in her mouth with a swig of water. 

"Can I still go to tonight's party?" she asked anxiously as soon as she swallowed.

The nurse frowned. "I think you should sit this one out, hon." 

"But—I need to go!" she pleaded. "Everyone is going!"

"That was a very long fall, young lady—"

"I'm going. I have to," she insisted stubbornly. As if to prove her point that she was perfectly fine, she stood up and clenched her teeth before gasping at the pain in her back. 

The nurse looked troubled. She pulled at her white strands of hair nervously. Now Yuffie knew why her hair looked like it had been through hell and back. 

"I guess it should be all right, just remember disinfectant!" 

"Yes, I'll be sure to remember!" Yuffie said quickly. She glanced out the window. The sun was low in the sky and everything was a soft, pale orange and yellow. It would be light's out soon, then the party would begin. 

"I can leave, right?" she asked. She started walking towards the door and opened it. 

"Oh—yes—that's fine..." she said with a shake of her head. "Kids these days, they just don't know how to take their time..."

~*~

Yuffie walked past the Gremlins' cabin and shivered. The lights were all out, signaling Kairi had already put them to bed. She scowled fiercely down at her partially naked body. The least the nurse could have done was give her a towel. It didn't look normal to walk through brush in the middle of the night wearing a skimpy bathing suit. 

The spiky branches on the cluster of bushes scratched at her stomach as she walked through them, taking a quick shortcut to get to the cabin she shared with her friends. 

The cabin was in sight, with all of the lights on. She sprinted to the door, ignoring her back, and pushed through the door breathlessly. Aerith jumped and Vanera and Kairi turned their heads to see who made the loud crash.

"Oh Yuffie! You're okay!" Aerith exclaimed. She ran off the bed and gave her a hug around the neck. 

"What happened, Yuf?" Vanera asked with a worried expression on her face. 

"Yeah, what?" Kairi echoed. 

Yuffie sat on the edge of her bed and laid out on her soft blue blanket. 

"All we heard was a scream and then a huge splash. And it didn't sound like the having fun kind of scream," Vanera added. 

"Yeah, and then all these little kids started screaming because you were floating on the water and blood was pouring out around you," Kairi said, emotions running across her face as she remembered.

"The nurse wouldn't let us see you, and we thought it was really, really serious," Aerith said quietly. 

Yuffie remained silent, then said, "What did Cloud, Riku, and...Squall do?"

"Riku and Cloud got you out of the water while the nurse came running a few seconds after that. We haven't really seen Squall since then," Vanera said with a glance at Yuffie. 

She sighed and bit her lip. So...she could have died and yet Squall did nothing to help her? He just disappears without a trace without even saying a word to her friends? 

"I convinced Cloud, Riku, and Squall to go swimming with me, and somehow we ended up on the diving platform. I was too scared to jump so Cloud and Riku jumped before me, leaving me alone with Squall. He was blocking the step ladder, and I was facing him. He took a step toward me and I stepped back. That's when I fell and a rock sliced my back," Yuffie recapped. 

Vanera put a light arm around her. "Still up for that party?"

Yuffie's eyes brightened. "I wouldn't miss it for the world...!" 

Kairi grinned. "Good. We were just deciding to choose what to wear."

Yuffie raised her eyebrows. "So we finally don't have to wear those awful counselor clothes?" she giggled and started to finger through her end of the closet. 

She flipped through blouses and T-shirts while Kairi held up her own clothes. 

"What about this one?" Kairi asked and stared into a full-length mirror. 

She flicked her gaze in Kairi's direction and then turned back to finding her outfit. "You kidding me? That is hideous!" 

"What?" Kairi whined. It was a lavender skirt and a white tank-top. 

"You _always _wear that!" Vanera groaned. 

"Kind of like how Aerith has an obsession with pink?" Kairi retorted and put the outfit away in exchange for another.

"Hey!" Aerith said, and quickly stuffed something behind her back. A light blush spread across her cheeks. Vanera grinned. 

"Whatcha got there, Aerith?" she asked innocently, then darted behind Aerith and took the dress out of her clutched fist. "Ah-hah! A pink dress!" 

Yuffie laughed and took out pair of denim cut-offs and a plain white T-shirt. "What about this?" 

Aerith scrunched her face up. "But it's so...casual."

"Comfortable," she corrected. 

"Here, let me look..." Aerith said and stood next to Yuffie. She skillfully flipped through the clothes at a whirlwind speed and in five seconds flat she was holding a sea-foam green, sleeveless blouse and a black skirt.

"Well...I guess it's okay..." Yuffie said slowly. She didn't want Aerith to know how much she liked the colors together. Aerith lifted her chin and had a smug look on her face. 

"Okay, okay, I love it! You don't have to grill me..." Yuffie said, breaking down to Aerith from a simple look on her face.

She laughed her entrancing, airy laugh and danced over to Vanera, who was looking at cargo jeans and a black shirt. 

Aerith shook her head. "Van, why don't you wear something less baggy? Your legs are gorgeous." 

Vanera wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"How come you don't wear make-up? Enhance your features a little!"

She leaned forward, slightly exasperated. "Just give me a makeover..." she joked. 

"Can I?" 

Kairi gave Aerith a look. 

"Fine...but can I at _least _choose your outfit? Yuffie liked hers." 

She nodded reluctantly. "As long as it's not pink, I guess..."

After a minute or two she handed her a jean skirt and a pale blue blouse that brought out her large blue eyes.

"Perfect!" Aerith announced. 

Kairi dressed in a pale purple dress with a pink sash across the waist. "I don't care if you guys don't like this outfit or not, I'm going like this." 

"I th—" Vanera said.

"I don't care!" 

"I was _going _to see it looks good on you."

Kairi looked at her sheepishly. "Oh."

"C'mon guys, we're going to be late!" Yuffie called over her shoulder. She was already out the door.

"Since when did she ever care about being late?" Aerith said, remembering all the times Yuffie had shown up late for class or for coffee with her. She laughed and walked out the door, Kairi and Vanera in tow, trying to keep up with Yuffie. 

~*~

Squall sat next to Cloud, staring into the blazing fire. It crackled and snapped out at him, as if scolding him for what he had done. It danced high in the air, laughing and crackling even more. 

He shifted on the hard, rotting log and scowled. Why did the junior counselors have to sit on tree trunks while the senior counselors and instructors got to sit on chairs sculpted from the very tree wood itself? 

Mentally sighing, he glanced around at the group of people sipping bubbly sodas and digging their hands into bowls of chips and getting them covered in salt. The instructors still hadn't arrived, and he could tell neither had some of the counselors. 

He watched silently as everyone laughed and had a good time. Cloud turned to him and gave him a light punch on the back, the way all the guys seem to. 

"Hey man, cheer up. Grab a soda," he said. 

"No."

Squall could sense Cloud's annoyance at his constant use of monosyllables and emotion. He shrugged it off, not feeling the need to care. 

"Are you still thinking about Yuffie? Come on, I'm sure she's fine..." Cloud said, not sure if he believed it himself. It was scary seeing an unconscious Yuffie being rushed to the nurse with blood pouring out of her back. He could see why Squall blamed himself. 

Squall turned to glare at Cloud, and he knew he hit a soft spot. "The only thing I'm thinking about is how annoying your mouth is," he muttered. 

A rustling from the bushes brought his eyes to attention. Four dark, feminine figures emerged from the brush, cursing and shrieking. He shook his head. The path was only ten feet away. It would have been easier to use the path. 

They walked out of the shadows. The fire played on their faces and revealed them. The four girls turned out to be Kairi, Aerith, Vanera, and _Yuffie._

He felt relief flood through his body. So she was okay. He could stop thinking about her now. 

The other counselor's reactions were positive, at least for the guys. Their gazes lingered on the females, casting looks of pure jealousy on the other girls' faces. 

He noted they were dressed up for the occasion. Skirts and dresses, even for the casual Yuffie and Vanera. Yuffie's particular outfit choice was a sleeveless top and short black skirt. He stared for longer than normal. 

He pried his eyes off of her in time to notice Cloud and Aerith exchange shy glances at each other. 

Cloud followed her with his eyes until she sat down next to her friends. They started to joke and laugh with each other, nudging one another in the ribs and sizing up the male company. 

"Cloud..." Squall started. He had a faraway look in his eye and didn't seem to hear him. 

"What?" he asked without breaking his stare. He noticed Aerith was looking at Cloud too, and had unconsciously separated herself from her friends. 

"It's impolite to stare."

"Shove off." 

Cloud's response startled him, but he covered his surprise. If it had been any other time, he was sure Cloud wouldn't have said that.

A distant music drifted from down the path, and was growing louder. A group of people emerged from the path, carrying a huge battery-powered stereo that was pumping out the latest music. Following behind were the instructors.

He groaned. Obviously this was going to be a noisy night. 

~*~

Yuffie laughed when the other counselors brought the music. Suddenly, the quiet, refined chatter was raised to loud, happy laughs and shouts as the tunes relaxed everyone. More people came up the trail, obviously attracted to the music. 

She grinned and hummed along with the songs she knew, not caring if anyone overheard her out of pitch singing. 

Kairi was straining her neck as if looking for someone special, while Aerith was staring at someone from across the fire, not even blinking. Whoever the man was, Yuffie was impressed. Aerith had always politely refused dates from other guys at school, and had never once known Aerith to like anyone. She had even overheard the burned guys commenting that she was a lesbian to reclaim their pride, and then saying, "She hasn't gone on a date once in her whole life even though almost every self-respecting guy has asked her."

She followed Aerith's gaze right into large blue eyes, then up to spiky, blonde hair...

"BLONDIE?!" she screamed. Everyone's heads turned and stared at her, the only noise coming from the stereo. Yuffie blushed, and after a few moments they went back to what they were doing. 

She turned to Aerith and grabbed her arm. "Blondie?!" she hissed more softly. 

Aerith looked at her. "What are you talking about?" She still had that dreamy look in her eye, and seemed to be just itching to go back to staring.

"You like...like...Cloud?" she asked in a strangled voice. Aerith's face lightened up. 

"Cloud..." she whispered, as if testing the name on her tongue. She almost gagged right then and there. Her arm grabbed Yuffie's and she asked excitedly, "Is that his name?" 

"Uhh...I prefer Blondie, but ya know whatever floats your boat..."

"Yuffie, isn't he the most adorable creature ever?" Aerith crooned. 

"Maybe we should get you to the punch bowl." 

She seemed unaffected. "His hair is so silky..."

"...So spiky..." Yuffie mimicked playfully. 

"His eyes are like the bluest sky..."

"...like the rottenest blueberry..."

"His skin is so smooth..."

"...he used to have boils..." Yuffie sang. 

Aerith sighed. "Yuffie, when will you grow up? You just have to experience love firsthand to know."

"More like lust," she chided. 

"Hey—has anyone seen...seen Sora?" Kairi cut in, looking embarrassed.

Yuffie shook her head. "No—remember what they said earlier? They were acting kind of suspicious about it, too. Leon pulled Sora back when he got excited about the party, said something, then he...seemed to remember...something," she finished lamely. 

Kairi looked crestfallen. "Oh."

"Why don't we leave Miss Lovebird over here and get some punch?" Yuffie suggested. She wanted to cheer Kairi up a little. 

"Sure..." she replied, less than enthusiastically. 

Yuffie grabbed two Styrofoam cups and proceeded to the punch bowl. A large silver ladle was sticking out of it, and behind the bowl, was a gorgeous girl. She had the look on her face that said, "I'm sexy, and I know it." Her hair was black and silky that fell to her back, and her eyes were a greenish hazel. 

"Hello," Yuffie said, and waited for the girl to fill her cups. 

She narrowed her eyes and stared at her. "What?" 

"Aren't you going to fill our cups?" 

"Do I look like I would?"

Yuffie sighed and pushed down her temper, which the girl had already brought up to a heated degree. Instead of arguing, she would fill it herself. 

She grabbed the ladle and filled the cups. The girl scowled and watched her. 

"You're hogging all of the ice cream for yourself," she said coolly. Sheryl came up behind her, a huge smile on her face.

"Valerie, how has everyone liked the punch?" Sheryl asked and put a friendly hand on her shoulder.

An innocent, shy smile surfaced on Valerie's lips. "They all love it, Sher. Your recipe is a real hit!" 

She smiled and nodded approvingly, and her gaze turned to Yuffie and Kairi. "I trust they aren't causing you any trouble?" 

Yuffie's jaw dropped. Her? Causing trouble? More like this Valerie was!

Valerie hesitated. "Well...I think I've got everything handled," she replied, tactfully making it seem like there _was _something going on, but also making herself look responsible in the process. 

Yuffie and Kairi exchanged glances. 

"Well..." Sheryl said, and gave them a warning glance, "Let's not cause trouble, now," and walked away. 

Valerie sneered and mimicked, "How has everyone liked the punch?" 

"That wasn't very nice," Kairi said. 

"Who said it was?" she retorted, and then laughed. "Both of you just leave my sight. I have better things to do then talk to smelly rats." 

Her anger overtook her and she lunged forward, nearly knocking over the punch table. Kairi grabbed her arm and pulled her back. They both toppled over onto the ground, making Yuffie groan. 

"Oww...my back..."

Valerie leaned over the side of the table and said, "That reminds me. Stay away from Squall Leonheart. I'm _glad _he made you fall off the diving platform."

"Oh! You LITTLE BITC—" 

"Yuffie! Come on, let's go!" Kairi said before she could cause damage. 

They sat down on a log as far away from Valerie as they could get. Yuffie clenched her fists and stared at her in loathing. Forty-five minutes passed, and she was still pissed. 

"Oh, how I would enjoy to squeeze the airrrr out of that delicate neeck of hers. Make it all red and broosed..." she muttered, slurring her words. 

Kairi sighed. "She shouldn't have acted like that..." she agreed with a hiccup. 

"Oh _please _Kai, I think Angel Aerith has taken you under her big, heavenly wing..."

"Yuffie!" 

"Sorry," she said. "I'm just...I'm just...I'm just mad." Her stuttering was evident in her words.

She gave a little giggle, sighed happily, and looked around for Aerith and Vanera. Over in a corner, Vanera was sipping what looked like her seventh glass of punch and laughing giddily with three guys. She watched in shock as she leaned forward and whispered something to one of the guys and came away looking naughty. 

She glanced down at her own cup and felt sick. Had someone spiked the punch? Wearily, she looked down at the ten glasses that she had forced some guy to get her so she didn't have to talk to Valerie. If she was in her right mind, she would go and get someone to take her to her room, but her mind was clouded and suddenly everything was something to giggle about.

Sheryl stood on top of one of the logs and started calling for attention. Yuffie giggled in a slow, lazy way and pointed. 

"Looooooook Kairi! She's an instructor...on a log!" Yuffie gasped through insane laughter, not caring if the punch was spiked or not. Kairi slowly raised her eyes and a grin spread across her face until they were both crying with laughter.

Yuffie stood up, a sick feeling in her stomach. She ran into the bushes and bumped into someone. She groaned and felt her way to another bush to vomit. Being drunk was so abrupt...one minute she was laughing, the next she had a wave of nausea. 

She puked and started to cough, feeling worse by the second. She was aware of a presence standing next to her. 

Shamefully, she lifted her head and stared into azure colored eyes and almost passed out. She didn't want to see him, not now, not ever. 

"Go away..." she said weakly and grabbed her stomach. 

"I think you should get back to your cabin."

"No, you think!" she said dryly. 

"I think I'll alert Sheryl that something is wrong. I think the punch must have been spiked, the way everyone is acting."

"Okay..." she replied and returned to her bush. 

Squall left her there and stood next to Sheryl, who was trying to get everyone's attention with the help of the other instructors. She looked down at him helplessly. 

"I think the punch was spiked." 

Sheryl put a hand on her head, coming to realization. "Oh dear...after every warning we told you at the camp orientation..."

With a sigh, she turned to the other instructors and talked to them. They gave nods and started down the trail. 

"We're getting some older escorts to take everyone back to their rooms. We _will _get to the bottom of this!" 

Squall left her there and decided to get Yuffie, who looked like she had passed out in the bushes. She must be really naïve to not smell something strange in the punch. 

She was lying in grass, looking pale and worn. He lifted her up into his arms and adjusted her head so it wasn't hanging over the side of his arm. 

_The least I can do is help out, now..._he told himself. _But I'm NOT doing it for Yuffie..._

He came out of the bushes and searched for Cloud so he could help Kairi home. He was nowhere in sight. It was just like Cloud; to be around in normal times, then disappear when it was important. 

Already sober people were picking up the wasted or helping them up and leading them down the trail, following Sheryl's orders. Squall carried Yuffie down the path and found her cabin easily, as it had pink curtains strung by the windows. Only Aerith would do that. 

Carefully, he climbed the creaky steps to open the door. A loud yell rang in his ears and almost made him collapse. Shots of water hit him all over, drenching him to the core.

"Take that! And that!" Sora's voice came. He appeared from the door, carrying a huge water gun. Riku was behind him, shooting over his shoulder. 

When Sora saw a furious Squall, he lowered his water gun in bewilderment. "Huh?" 

"You idiot, you were supposed to _wait _to see who it was first!" he growled. 

"But—we thought that—" 

"Something went wrong at the party," he explained briefly. "And everyone is wasted and drunk." 

Riku sighed and shook his head. "I miss all the fun, don't I?" 

Sora nudged him in the ribs. 

"Oh—I mean...how horrible!" he said.

"Move it," Squall said and pushed his way into the room. 

"Moody, aren't we?" Riku called. 

If he wasn't carrying Yuffie, he would punch Riku's smug little face in. But since he was, he ignored him and put her on her bed. It was obvious, sporting a blanket that had 'Yuffie' embroidered on it. 

He left her with all of her clothes on, and moments later two older women helped Kairi and Vanera to their beds, whispering among themselves. 

"Whoever did this is getting into a lot of trouble..." he overheard. 

"C'mon guys..." Squall said and dragged Sora and Riku out by their collars. 

"Stop doing that to me!" Sora whined. 

He ignored him and took them back to their cabin, then followed the trail back to the party site to see if he was needed. It was going to be a rough night for the other counselors. 

______________________________________________________________________________

DUN DUN DUN! I actually put in some Squall action! Usually it's only in Yuffie's point of view. Well, you know how it works, you can review now. I have to finish this really quick and post it up tomorrow...but thanks to the great people who reviewed! 

Also thanks to Annjirika who helped give me an idea for the next chapter. 

Just in case you didn't notice, in the last chapter Squall yanked Sora away from the poster and told him he couldn't go, then Sora kind of went, "I can't. Oh YEAH!" because he was remembering. Well, he and Riku decided during the party to hide in their cabin and drench them in water when they got back. I just thought I should clear that up. ;)

Like I said, you can review now. Umm...and I feel like I'm forgetting something here, but if I remember I'll tell you in the next chapter, which I should be able to get up this weekend. 


	5. Resolutions and Killing Instructors

Thanks to all of the great reviewers! 

To Zanisha: Actually, it can be shined or shone, according to the Oxford English dictionary. I just had to look it up! -

To pingpong867: Hahaha, you know me. Usually the Squffiness doesn't come in until later. They just met and they pretty much hate each other, so it can't get too fluffy...not yet. 

To Deplora: No alcohol tolerance, eh? I can't even drink a mocha without bouncing off the walls, so just imagine what alcohol would do to me...shudder

To Regno Cuore: Well, Riku and Sora decided to hide out in Yuffie's cabin so when she got back and opened her door, they could shoot her with water sprays. 

To Peter the Muggle: Yep, I reviewed your story for you!

To ObsidianSorrows: I know...Yuffie is always the target. Especially in my stories. Well, if I ever get around to finishing my story "Terrorized" Squall is going to be the target in the final showdown with Yvonne. Shh! Don't tell anyone! 

To DarkFlame666: Haha, so I'm infamous? Thanks...I think. Thank you for your review, too!

To SunMoon,EarthSky: Did you notice that I made part of the other chapter in Squall's point of view? That was for you!

To RikkuFF10: AU stand for alternate universe. Glad you reviewed!

To BlueEyedDemon10: Ugh, I hate being sick. It's the worst. 

To writerofthefuture: Riku's mystery girl is...whispers in ear

To Fire Spirit: Glad you think so!

To Chels: Thanks!

huff, puff, huff, puff I think I answered every person who reviewed all of my chapters!

If I missed anyone, just tell me and I'll correct my carelessness! 

_

* * *

Summer Nights_

_Chapter 5_

* * *

Yuffie's eyes fluttered open and instantly shut again as the light glared into her eyes. She moaned as the combined pain of her back wound, queasy stomach, and pounding head hit her at full force. She rolled over onto her stomach and fell onto the floor in a pile of sheets. 

"Must...not...drink...again...ever..." she panted. Something stirred in Vanera's bed, and a confused head with piles of auburn hair came into view. 

"Huh?" she said slowly, her voice hoarse. "What happened? Holy shit, what happened last night? I can't remember...oh my God!" Vanera started to hyperventilate. "Did I lose my virginity? Did I drink? What is wrong with me?" 

With effort, she pushed herself up and watched Kairi slowly wake up, a dazed expression on her features. 

"Oh no, was last night a horrible dream?" she said, knowing the truth. 

Vanera scrambled out of bed and grabbed Kairi's shoulders. "Kairi, what happened last night?"

Kairi's eyes were wide. "It's a little foggy...we all went to that counselor party and hung out. Then I think Yuffie and I got into this fight with some girl...then...uhh...I think that's when we started drinking, but I don't remember sipping a beer."

Yuffie nodded and ran her hands through her hair. "That's because the punch was spiked," she said absently. 

In hysterics, Vanera rolled off the bed and leaned over Yuffie. "What did I do?" she whispered. 

"N-nothing..." she replied, and put a hand on her forehead. "You were flirting with some guys, but as far as I know, you didn't do anything." She paused then frustratingly said, "AH! I am never drinking when I'm twenty-one!" 

Carefully, she stood up with the help of her bed and ran into the bathroom to empty her stomach. It was utterly disgusting. Who would put that much alcohol into a punch to make her have such a heavy hangover? Then again, it was the only hangover she had ever had, so maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought. 

She splashed cold water on her face and grabbed her toothbrush, brushing her teeth furiously to erase the taste that lingered on her tongue. She picked a few bramble leaves out of her tangled black hair and threw them in the wastebasket. 

"I call dibs on the shower, first!" Yuffie called weakly from the bathroom, and hopped into the shower. She washed, then dressed in her counselor outfit. 

She exited the bathroom and Kairi took it next, followed by Vanera. They collapsed on the bed.

"Where's Aerith?" Vanera inquired wearily. 

"I haven't seen her since the party," Kairi replied worriedly. 

"What time is it?" Yuffie said. She closed her eyes and heard Vanera sitting up and glancing at the alarm clock. 

"Twelve o'clock! We were supposed to be up by six!" she screeched and jumped up. Yuffie's jaw dropped. Since when were they allowed to sleep until noon? 

"We are going to be in so much trouble!" Kairi said with a slight cry. "Let's go!" 

"But we have to find Aerith," Vanera protested. "She would have woken us up if the speakerphone didn't."

"I think you're right...what if she was kidnapped? Oh my gosh, this is just like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre!" Yuffie said with a gasp. 

"Oh Yuffie! That is just a legend, and besides, no one else we know is missing."

"So?" 

"So...I think we should just find Aerith."

Yuffie walked the trail paths, keeping an eye open for anything suspicious. They had decided to split up; a bad idea in Yuffie's opinion. In the movies, that's when all of the bad stuff happened. 

She wrapped her arms around herself and blinked back tears. Where was everyone? It was already past twelve in the afternoon. Kids should be running around, since this was normally free-time. So should counselors. This was their little break time, as well. 

"Why doesn't anyone tell me anything?" she muttered and kicked a stone in her foot's path. It went scuttling across the dusty walkway and hit the door of a cabin concealed by forest brush and trees. 

Curiously, Yuffie approached it. She must have passed this place up a million times without noticing it. A bunch of ivy was growing up the doors and boarded up windows, but it looked like someone had recently opened the door. The ivy was all broken and snapped by the edge. 

A small bump came through the door. She felt herself have an intake of breath. With a push of bravery she swung the door open, and something came toppling down onto her, knocking her flat off her feet and onto the grass. 

"What the--!" 

She winced and heard an 'ow.' Her face was buried into the grass, and something heavy was keeping her flat on her back. A muffled "help!" came from her mouth, but the sound was only for the grass to hear.

Yuffie pulled herself out and stood up quickly, feeling shaken. She gasped and started to giggle despite herself. Aerith and Cloud were lying on the grass, stunned expressions on their faces. She bent down and shook Aerith's shoulders. 

"Where were you, Aerith? You scared me half to death!" she said crossly. 

"Oh Yuffie!" Aerith said and threw a hug around her neck. "Thank God you found us!"

"What do you mean, 'found you?'" 

"We were trapped in that cabin all night long! It locked us from the outside. It was horrible!" 

Yuffie pulled back from the hug and looked at her. It was true. She was covered in dust and her make-up was smeared from crying. Cloud propped himself up and rubbed his neck, emitting an embarrassed chuckle. 

Cloud stood and helped Aerith and Yuffie up. 

"Wait," she said suspiciously. "Why were you two alone in the first place?" 

Aerith and Cloud exchanged glances. A blush spread across her cheeks. "Well—er—we wanted to be alone." 

Yuffie laughed and grabbed Aerith's arm. "So our little angel is finally going _bad__!" _she said gleefully. 

"No," she replied curtly, looking flustered. 

"Well anyway, Kairi and Vanera were both looking all over for you. We have to find them then tell you what happened last night."

On the trip back to the cabin, Aerith noticed everyone was gone and questioned Yuffie. "We don't know where they went," Yuffie said sadly. 

Kairi and Vanera were sitting on the porch, their foreheads creased in worry. When they saw Aerith they looked extremely relieved. 

Before they could ask her, Aerith held up a hand and explained the story. Kairi and Vanera were giggling and nudging Aerith, then after they had a laugh, they told her what happened at the party to the amazed and surprised Aerith.

Yuffie sat down on the porch and groaned. "What now? We have no clue where everyone is."

"I think I can answer that," came a voice from somewhere up ahead. Yuffie's eyes darted to the spot and saw who it was. 

"Her!" Yuffie growled. Valerie stood next to them and struck a pose. 

"Who else?" she said with a short laugh. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and eyed Cloud with a suggestive look. He flushed and appeared to be enjoying her stare. Aerith bit her lip and glared at Cloud, then Valerie. "In case you weren't informed, two of the instructors took the kids out to camp for three days to work out the drinking problem, and two stayed here to find out the culprit." 

She let out a small sigh and twirled over to Cloud. Without a second thought she wrapped her arms around his neck and sat on his lap. "They are so stupid, especially Sheryl. Never did they think to question me, when I was the one serving the punch!"

Aerith's eyes widened. "Was it you?"

"Of course it was me." 

"We'll have to turn you in for that," Kairi said with narrowed eyes. 

"I don't think you will," she said and blew on her perfectly manicured nails. 

"And why not?" 

"Ever want to have a chance with Sora? I'll take him away like that," she replied and snapped her fingers. 

Kairi cast her eyes at her shoes and swallowed hard. Valerie grinned. "That's what I thought."

Cloud squirmed under her and started to stand up. She growled and stood with him. "Excuse me, I was sitting there." 

"Look, whatever your name is, can you just tell us what we're supposed to be doing, then get lost?"

She rolled her eyes. "In a few hours there is supposed to be a meeting at the auditorium. Be there." A seductive smile appeared onto her lips and she ran a finger under his chin. "Bye Yuffie, Kairi...Aerith," she said with a snort. 

"Snorting isn't very ladylike," Yuffie hissed. 

"Neither are you, but no one's complaining," she retorted over her shoulder. "Losers..." 

"GOD I can't stand her!" Yuffie said when she was gone. 

Aerith looked at Cloud and opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly it looked like she chose to say nothing and snapped it shut. 

"Who can stand her?" Vanera mumbled. 

"No one from this world..."

Yuffie found a seat in the back of the auditorium and propped up her feet on the chair in front of her. She wished she had a bag of popcorn. This was going to be so boring. 

_Look on the bright side, the Gremlins are out of your hair for three days..._said her mind. 

Her friends filled up the seats beside her. She turned her head to watch the other counselors pour in, looking battered and worn. No wonder the camp had been deserted. Everyone was sleeping in late. 

She bit back a scream when she saw who sat in front of her. Valerie. Squall sat next to her, looking bored and expressionless. Valerie turned to him and started making small talk, staring Squall up and down like he was some sideshow to watch that cost fifty cents to see. 

Much to her delight, Squall practically ignored her, nodding politely every once in a while. It was impossible to ignore the hurt and angry look that crossed her face. 

Yuffie's attention switched from Valerie to Sheryl up on stage. She looked angry and determined, her smooth gray hair swept up into a bun. (A/N: I'm up writing this late again and I started typing, "swept up into a bun on her forehead!)

"As everyone knows, whether you attended or didn't attend, someone spiked the punch at last night's party. Because of this little...incident, we did not get the chance to talk or discuss anything. Not only that, you broke Camp Kaman's no alcohol rule, and I witnessed disturbing sexual acts. I'm a disgusted! Until the culprit who spiked the punch comes forward, you will all be punished. As of now, I haven't decided how, but it will be a cruel, horrible, and unusually punishment for your wrongdoings."

She paused and let the other instructor take the microphone. 

"And because of this, you have caused..." 

Yuffie yawned and leaned her head against the back of the chair. Camp Kaman had to be the most boring camp she had ever been to in her life. She blinked and rubbed her eyes a little. She had almost dozed off. 

"Finally, in a week we will be holding the annual Kaman Talent Competition. All of the counselors who used to attend Kaman know how much fun that is. Don't make us take away the privilege."

A slow wave of silent whispers rippled through the counselors. 

"Can you believe that in two weeks we'll all be going home? Those past weeks went by so quickly," Sheryl said with a sigh. "But there's always next year." A few thoughtful seconds passed, and generally cheerier now than when she had begun, she said, "You are dismissed."

Yuffie rolled her eyes and stood up with her friends. Valerie was already walking out the door, clinging to Squall's arm like it was a life boat. Anger welled in Yuffie's stomach. She couldn't understand why, first of all, because she didn't like Squall.

She walked back to the cabin, declining the offer to eat lunch at the cafeteria with everyone else. Automatically she wrapped her arms around herself, even in the warm heat of the day, and sighed. The anger she had felt before eventually slipped away, leaving confusion in its place. Why had she gotten upset over Valerie paying so much attention to Squall? 

_"That reminds me. Stay away from Squall Leonheart. I'm glad he made you fall off the diving platform..."_

Valerie's words floated around her mind. Yuffie felt herself grinning. She wouldn't let Valerie take him for herself, because she certainly didn't deserve him. 

With a new bounce in her steps, she continued walking to the cabin and spotted Squall a few feet ahead of her, Valerie nowhere in sight. The perfect time to talk to him. 

"Hey Squall!" she shouted. She ran up to him and took his arm like Valerie had. Squall looked down at her like she was crazy.

"What is it?" 

That stopped her. What _would _she say?

"Cool party last night, huh?" she replied quickly. 

"Yeah cool..." he said sarcastically. "You were puking into the bushes then when you passed out I had to carry you back to your cabin, where I was then shot with water guns by two stupid kids known as Riku and Sora."

Yuffie blushed pink that spread from her neck to her cheeks. "Did you really?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry about that. That was really sweet to take care of me." 

He gave her a sidelong glance. "Yeah well, don't mention it..."

Yuffie stood on her tiptoes and pecked him on the cheek, drawing back with a flushed face. 

"Don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Again," he growled.

"Aww, don't be so mean! Smile, you've got French's!" she sang cheerfully. When she was younger that used to be her favorite commercial, especially when the little boy with French's mustard smeared all over his face appeared. 

"Are you high?"

Yuffie was taken aback. "No, why would you say that?"

"No reason."

She giggled. "Well it's because I have a new resolution. But it's a secret."

His expression remained blank. His ice blue eyes were set on the path ahead, holding no flicker of emotion. 

"Don't you want to know?" she said. 

"Not really."

"Good. Because if you did, I wouldn't be able to tell you."

When he said nothing, Yuffie sighed and let go of his arm. "You never talk."

"What do you want me to say?" 

"I don't know..."

"Exactly."

Instead of thinking up a quick comeback she resorted to staring at the sky. Her cabin came into view. 

"Bye Squall," she said with a wave. 

"Leon!" he growled. 

This time, Yuffie chose to ignore him. She opened the door of her cabin and stepped inside.

"The air outside is cooler than in here..." she muttered, and flopped onto her bed. She stuffed a pillow under her chin and stared at the door. "This is boring. Hey...what's that?"

A white sheet of paper was sticking out from under an armchair next to the door. Yuffie stood and picked it up, unfolding it carefully. 

_"To the female junior counselors..._

_In three days, go to the lake, dressed with your bathing suits underneath. Explanations will be made as soon as you arrive. _

_The male counselors!"_

She raised her eyebrows. What was that all about? 

"In three days time I'll find out," she answered her thoughts automatically. There was a knock on her door; two sharp whacks. 

"Damn, who's trying to bust down the door?" she murmured. She glanced out Aerith's pink frilly windows. Sheryl was standing with the other instructor with her, looking angry and ready to kill. 

* * *

Hope everyone liked the chapter! Review, as you normally do please! The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update. Got it? 

Here are some thoughts to think about...

_Will Sheryl ever find out who spiked the punch? (Valerie)_

_Will Yuffie win Squall to herself? _

_What's up with the letter to the female junior counselors?_

_What is Sheryl doing at Yuffie's cabin? _

_Finally...___

_WHAT IS THE TRUTH ABOUT VALERIE? _

I tried my hand out at some pathetic suspense at the end of the chapter, but whatever. If I suck at it, I don't care, just as long as you review!


	6. Caught in the Woods

Here's the next installment of Summer Nights! I really hate this new Document Manager thing, too. The Quick Edit takes out my lines and my star symbols and stuff. Why Fan Fiction? WHY?!

Thanks to all of chapter five's reviewers:

Deplora

BlueEyedDemon10

PureHikari

hulabaloo

eclipsed

DarkFlame666

zilly

Annjirika

pingpong867

Regno Cuore

QwickSilver

ObsidianSorrows

SunMoon,EarthSky

RikkuFF10

_

* * *

Summer Nights_

_Chapter 6_

* * *

Yuffie pushed the curtains closed and approached the door, her outstretched hand taking the door knob and pulling it open slowly. It reminded her of one of those utterly horrible, black-and-white films where they tried to create suspense by making everything go slow and have corny music. She could never really concentrate on the screen while watching those.

She held the door open and made sure to plaster a smile on her face. "Oh Sheryl, what brings you here? Do you want to come in or something?" she asked quickly before she could say anything.

Sheryl answered with a curt smile and stepped inside, followed by the other female instructor. "We've heard some strange things, Miss Kisaragi. Take a seat."

Yuffie quickly sat down on the couch and smiled nervously. "Ah—like what?"

"You were at the party, correct?"

"Yes." What was she getting at?

"We have reason to believe that _you _are the one responsible for spiking the punch."

"Who told you that?!"

"I'm afraid that's confidential."

"What! Valerie was the one serving the punch, and she told me and my friends she did it!"

"Don't subject Valerie to this. She would do nothing of the sort."

"Oh, but I would?"

"Excuse me, but I believe that since I am your superior you should talk to me with more respect."

Yuffie gripped her hands into fists and stood up. "Well I'm not taking this! You can kick me out, but I am not admitting to doing anything, because I didn't!"

"Settle down, Miss Kisaragi."

"No! You have no right waltzing in here and saying that I spiked the punch!"

"Stop this!" said the other instructor. Sheryl nodded and looked at her for support.

"Yes, stop. If you say you didn't, then...well, we should give you the benefit of the doubt."

Yuffie relaxed and sat down again, shaking out her hands. "Thanks, I think..."

"That is, we SHOULD give you the benefit, but we aren't."

Yuffie remained silent. Sheryl and her little posse of instructors were really pissing her off, especially how Valerie kept buttering her up. She knew that if she said anything to her, it would be a string of curses.

"Your sentence will be cleaning up the bathrooms for two weeks. You're very lucky we aren't sending you home."

_OH YES! That's really lucky...I want to go home..._

"The sentence is starting today. This goes for boy and girl bathrooms. The cleaning utensils are in the janitor's closet in the office. Make sure you do it thoroughly everyday at 4:00 A.M and at 10:00 P.M."

Sheryl stood up and walked out of the cabin, followed by the other instructor. Yuffie buried her head in her hands and moaned. She didn't want to spend her time scrubbing dirty toilets, and besides, around 10:00 she was supposed to be with the other female junior counselors doing the boy counselor thing, whatever that was.

Kairi walked in, holding a can of pop. She tossed it to her and sat down next to her. "What's up with you?"

"Sheryl."

"What happened?"

"She claims that I was the one who spiked the punch. I'll give you one guess as to who it was."

"Valerie."

"You guessed it."

Yuffie popped the lid of the can and took a sip of the fizzing liquid then pushed it onto her forehead in a way to cool herself. Kairi picked up the sheet of paper and read it silently to herself.

"What's this?" she asked and turned the paper over to look at more thoroughly.

"Some kind of gathering for the junior female counselors, arranged by our male friends," Yuffie said with a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Interesting. This is probably some kind of creepy initiation thing."

"Hopefully not, because I'm not going anything crazy."

"Like what?" Aerith asked and walked into the cabin. Vanera walked in after and closed the door, plopping down onto the bed.

"Here," Kairi said and handed Aerith the note. She read it and passed it to Vanera.

"Cool..." she murmured. "I wonder if they'll make us do something dangerous."

"That wouldn't be a good thing, Van," Aerith pointed out. She twirled a few strands of auburn hair around her finger.

"Yeah it would."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "My friends are crazy."

"But that's why you love us," Yuffie said playfully.

* * *

Yuffie bent over, scrubbing around the toilet bowl, the smell of bleach and other cleaning chemicals making her eyes burn. It was late at night, about 10:15, but the correct time for her to be working at, according to Sheryl. She coughed and stuck her head under the stall for some fresh air, then went back to work. This routine went on for thirty minutes.

She hated Valerie. It wasn't a strong dislike for her. It was pure hatred. VALERIE had gotten them into a fight, VALERIE had spiked the punch, and VALERIE wanted Squall all to herself. She thought she could have anything she wanted. Maybe she had allegedly accused her of spiking the punch, but that was the only glory Yuffie would let her have.

Sighing and tossing the dirty scrubber into the bucket, she stood up and dragged it into the janitor's closet that was directly attached to the bathroom. She pulled off the sweaty rubber gloves and tossed them in the trash, shaking her hands out swiftly.

"Oh gross!" she exclaimed when she saw her hands. They were wrinkled with moisture from being in the sweaty gloves.

She sighed and washed her hands at the sink, finishing quickly and leaving the bathroom to follow the path down to the lake, where everyone else would already be gathered.

When she got there, a small group of female counselors had actually chosen to show. When she got closer, she noticed it was only Aerith, Kairi, and Vanera. She laughed silently to herself. So some of those chickens had ducked out, huh?

"Hey, where is everyone? We've been waiting here for a half hour. Did you see anything on your way here?" Kairi asked, wrapping her arms around herself.

Yuffie shook her head. "I didn't see anyone."

A twig snapped behind them. Yuffie ignored it; the woodland sounds had grown used to her ears. Another twig snapped, then what sounded like a stone being scattered across the dirt. Kairi gripped Vanera's arm in fear.

"Who's there?" Yuffie called out. Aerith took a step forward, searching with her bright emerald eyes.

"The Scare Squad," Riku said with a mocking laugh. He jumped past a few bushes, followed by Sora, Cloud, and Leon.

_Think Yuffie, think. Remember your plan! Get Squall to like you better than Valerie. _

Yuffie sighed. She knew she didn't have the energy to muster up the courage to loop her arm in Squall's, or even talk to him in a flirty way, like Kairi could.

"What are you guys doing here?" Vanera asked, brushing a few strands of auburn hair out of her crystal eyes. Riku had a smirk on his face.

"Don't you remember the letter?"

Vanera's eyes widened. "That was you? But where's everyone else?"

"There _is _no one else," Cloud said with a smirk.

"Well, then what is this all about?"

"Every year, a cabin of female counselors are chosen to be put through an initiation. And this is your test."

"What kind of test?" Kairi asked suspiciously. "How do we know you're not going to take us in the woods and rape us?"

"I won't let them," Cloud answered reassuringly, putting his hands dangerously on Riku's and Sora's neck.

"Why does everyone do that to us?" Sora whined.

"Yeah, like we'd rape _them!" _Riku muttered, a smile in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that, Silver Bells?" Yuffie asked. "Huh, Silver Bells? Silver Bells? Silver Bells? Want me to put my toilet bowl hands on you?"

Riku backed away, looking disgusted. "No! Get away from me. And my name is NOT Silver Bells."

"Or is it?" Vanera said in mock spookiness, lowering her voice.

A light blush spread across Riku's cheeks. "Uh...heh...uh..."

Sora gave him an incredulous look and nudged his ribs. "Dude!"

Riku glanced up, his face now bright red. So...Vanera must be the mystery girl he liked.

"Eh, Riku, got the hots for someone?" Yuffie said, grinning widely, and gave him a little shove.

"No! You guys are such idiots," he said, regaining his dignity. Vanera giggled, then hardened up and crossed her arms.

"So what do we have to do for this little initiation?" she asked.

"Each of us will lead you into the woods, blindfolded, and you'll have to make your way back to the lake. There are markers everywhere, you won't get lost. Directions will come from there. If you have to have someone come back to guide you because you think you're lost or too scared, then you're out," Cloud explained.

"Good enough for me," Vanera said, a challenging look in her eyes.

"But...uh..." Yuffie stuttered. She was secretly afraid of the dark, not to mention heights. She shuddered, remembering the diving incident, and self consciously touched her scar that was slowly healing along her back.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Leon said coolly, speaking up for the first time that night.

Aerith glanced at Kairi, who was wide-eyed and looking more frightened than Yuffie. "I don't know, this doesn't seem like a good idea..."

Cloud put a hand on her shoulder, gazing into her eyes. She stared up at him, mesmerized by his big blue eyes so evident in the dark. "Trust me. Nothing will happen."

She nodded, but still looked unsure. "Okay."

_No! Aerith, you were my last hope! _Yuffie mentally screamed. Now who would stop them from going into the woods? Vanera wasn't helping either, practically jumping from one foot to the other just to get moving.

"C'mon, I need a blindfold!" she said anxiously.

"Settle down, you..." Riku muttered, and walked behind her, wrapping a bandana around her eyes and tying it tightly, his hands lingering on her face a little longer than normal. Yuffie felt a huge grin spread across her face. Vanera and Riku would be the perfect couple. If only she knew how to set them up...

Cloud tied a bandana around Aerith's eyes, and when he tied the knot he slid his hands down her shoulders to entwine his fingers with hers. "This way, this is your path." They walked through what looked like a recently trodden trail.

Sora did the same to Kairi, leading her down to another path, then Riku took Vanera. The only people left were Yuffie and Squall. She felt herself intake a deep breath when he came up behind her and tied the blindfold for her.

He roughly grabbed her hand and started leading her down her own trail. Yuffie couldn't help but let herself have a small smile and follow him blindly. She couldn't hear anything, but that just heightened her other senses...and emotions.

They tracked down the trail for what seemed like hours, and when they finally got there, Yuffie was breathing and out of breath. "That...took...forever..." she panted after climbing up a particularly steep hill. Squall let go of her hand and started to walk away from her.

"Wait!" she screeched, suddenly aware of how vulnerable she was. She reached out to where she thought he was and took his hand pulling him back. "Please don't leave me! I'm afraid of the dark," she admitted.

"I can't," he replied in monotone. She couldn't tell what he was thinking because she couldn't see his face.

"Please?" she pleaded.

"I have to go," he said, pulling away from her. She kept a firm grip on him and pulled him closer, feeling alarmed. "Yuffie, let it go! Don't worry. You'll find your way back."

Was she mistaken, or was there what seemed to be another meaning behind his words?

He shook himself free and she stood alone, in the woods, in the dark, listening to his footsteps grow farther and farther away. She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself, walking without knowing where she was stepping, shaking from fear.

This would be her worst nightmare.

* * *

Squall watched Yuffie stumble along the path, looking like a lost lamb out of the herd. This was the stupidest idea he had ever participated in. Yuffie was scared to death, thinking she was all alone. He wouldn't blame her. How was she supposed to know he was following her to make sure she didn't get into trouble? And to make sure she didn't cheat her way back.

He followed her feeble steps from about twenty feet away, where he would be out of hearing range. The moon hit Yuffie's hair and made her whole face light up, displaying her good features. She seemed to have a lot. All of her friends were very pretty, but not exactly attractive. Not to him.

Squall shook his head, scolding himself. _Shut it, __Leon__. Don't go making thoughts like that. It will only lead to trouble. _

He set his eyes on the path ahead, watching Yuffie out of the corner of her eye. She looked so upset. And she was practically walking around in circles. The walk back with eyes took awhile, and without it would be intolerable.

* * *

Yuffie stumbled along to the best of her abilities, holding her hands out and trying to feel for the markers she passed up, wishing she would have memorized the path she had taken. How stupid she had been!

A loud snap brought her to an abrupt stop. What was that? What if it was a skunk? Or worse...a bear? Or even worse...a wolf?

She cocked her head and listened, then hit herself on the forehead. Of course, idiot, take off the blindfold! Yuffie ripped it off and looked around wildly, but couldn't see a thing in the darkness of the night. The moon did almost nothing to illuminate the path.

Yuffie heard another snap, and then another. Whatever was making that noise, it couldn't be an animal, and it was taking slow, deliberate steps toward her. The thoughts of the _Texas Chainsaw Massacre _flashed through her head again. Maybe it was true!

She screamed loudly, tears streaming down her cheeks, and ran up the path, hearing the thing behind her start running after her. She shrieked and didn't dare look behind her. A thick feeling of fear washed over her, blinding her thoughts.

A large branch blocked the path, the same one Squall had helped her over, and informed her it was a landmark. It appeared before her to quickly before she could stop running. She tripped over it and fell into the dirt, emitting a soft 'oof.'

For the chaser, this was just the deflect he needed. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up. Yuffie screamed and started kicking and punching wildly, getting the attacker a good one in the eye. She karate chopped his stomach and gasped. Her hand hit something rock solid. Were those his abs?

"Yuffie..." someone growled in an angry voice.

"Leon?" Yuffie asked shrilly, looking at the attacker. So it was him!

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked, a tremor in her voice.

Squall put a hand on his eye which was slowly swelling up. "Trying to stop you from running and killing yourself, but I see you cheated and took off the blindfold anyway."

Yuffie blinked. That was possibly the longest sentence she had ever heard him say. "Let me see," she said, referring to his eye.

"No," he said crossly.

"If you don't it will only get worse," she said in an attempt to sound gentle and womanly, but only came out with her usual cocky and indignant voice. She sighed at herself and gently pulled his hand away and looked at it. It was swelling and bruising quickly.

She reached up with her hand to touch it but he recoiled, re-clamping his hand onto his eye. "Don't touch it!"

"You're such a baby!" she said with a slight laugh. "Let me help you. One minute."

Yuffie went into the brush and brought back some strange, spiny plants, grinning arrogantly from ear to ear and sauntered over to him. "This will work wonders. Aerith taught me this."

He looked at her wearily as she snapped the crunchy leaf spikes in half and squeezed out the juice, making a thick, yet watery paste on her hand. "Open up!" she said, giggling.

"No."

"Just do it."

"No."

"Come on, Squall!"

"Leon."

"That isn't your real name, though."

"So what?"

"UGH! Just move your hand!" she said in an exasperated voice. Before he could protest she grabbed his hand and pulled it down, jamming the substance into his eyes.

"Stop!" he yelled and fell backwards, trying to wipe it out of his eyes before stopping.

Yuffie smiled smugly. "It feels better, doesn't it?"

"Slightly," he said crossly, standing up and composing himself.

"Gee, I never knew you were such a baby!" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Speak for yourself. I was watching you the whole time, stumbling around with that blindfold."

"Why were you watching me?!" she asked, suddenly wondering how Squall had found her in the first place since she heard him leave.

"I never left. I went around in a circle and came back so I could make sure you didn't cheat."

"Squall Leonheart! How dare you do that to me!" she fumed. "I thought I was all alone!"

He shrugged, and started walking away, rubbing his eye slightly.

"Hey! Don't just leave me here!" she said desperately, catching up with him and looping her arm with his without being embarrassed. He gave her a look. "Sorry...I have to hold your arm. And don't rub your eye, or else it will come off and the swell will flame up like a balloon."

He sighed and tried as hard as possible to ignore her, Yuffie could tell. "I might as well come back with you anyway since I disqualified myself, right?" she said rhetorically.

"Right..." he said sarcastically.

Yuffie yawned and felt her eye-lids droop. She was so tired...maybe he wouldn't mind...she leaned her head against his shoulder, a pleasant expression on her face.

He looked down at her, a hardened look on his face, about to tell her off for putting her head on his shoulder, but changed his mind. He didn't have the energy to get into a fight with her, and he had been hard on her.

Yuffie sighed contentedly and looked up into his blue eyes, a dreamy look to her. Her gaze traveled from his eyes to his straight nose, lips, and strong jaw. She wished she could kiss him, so badly, that it was a physical ache in her chest.

"Squall..." she whispered sleepily.

"What?"

"Can I...?" she asked, tilting her head. He looked at her suspiciously.

"What?"

"Can I..." she stuttered, her face flushing. Instead of finishing the sentence, she stopped him from walking and turned him toward her, standing up onto her tip-toes. She kissed his jaw slowly, then went up and brought her lips to his soft warm ones, closing her eyes.

She grinned through her kiss and then pulled away, keeping her face close to his so their breath mingled. She searched his eyes for a reaction, feeling suddenly very self-conscious. Something flickered past his eyes.

He reached up a hand and touched her cheek. Yuffie felt like bursting. Tears almost came to her eyes, but she quickly shook off the urge to pull in for another kiss.

_

* * *

I updated! Yay! I don't know when I'll have the next chapter out, because this weekend I'll be at the State competitions for this writing contest, and I'm nervous! But when I come home I might be able to start it. Anyway, please REVIEW! Oh...and aren't you happy I got some fluff in? This is the first time I haven't waited until the ending to bring in the goods. -_


	7. The Fight

Disclaimer: _Well, I do own Vanera, but nothing else. Disclaimers really piss me off..._

Author's Note: _Thanks to all of the great reviewers! To all of the people who did review...I love you! By the way, I added more to my profile in case anyone wants to check out the extra info. But read the story first!_

_'=====' means character change._

_'-' means time lapse. _

==============================================================================

_Summer Nights_

_Chapter 7_

_======================================================================================_

Yuffie finally broke the kiss, putting a hand on Squall's cheek, a large smile on her face. She couldn't believe it, Squall had kissed _her_? As far as she knew, he never got emotionally involved with anyone. She was surprised he even decided to participate with this whole initiation charade.

Suddenly he pulled away from her hand, a look of utter remorse and disgust on his eyes. Yuffie's heart fell with his frown.

"I can't...just....don't touch me," he said hoarsely, and walked into the dark path.

"What...just happened?" Yuffie whispered, warm tears coming to her eyes.

She walked back down the path, making sure to take her time so as not to catch up with Squall, crossing her arms and trying to warm the cold emptiness in her chest. It wasn't fair...life was never fair...

Tears streamed down her cheeks, making her eyes red and puffy. What she was feeling felt worse than death. It was rejection of someone who she really cared about. She put her fingers on the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut and when she came to the end of the path, instead of going to the lake she made a detour to her cabin.

With a shaky sob, she flung herself onto her bed, curling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Her hands were shaking badly. Never in her life had anything felt like this. She always knew people said mental pain hurt more than physical, but NEVER in her life had she ever thought it like this.

=====

Squall walked back to his cabin, feeling remorseful and guilty. What had just happened? Had he really let Yuffie..._Yuffie_...kiss _him_? He rubbed his face. The look in her eyes was haunting his mind. She looked so hurt, so defeated. He had done that. Was it fair?

There was nothing wrong with Yuffie. Sure, she was annoying, peppy, and everything he wasn't and would never be, but she wasn't a bad person. He felt like he had to push her away...she was trying to get too close.

But why had he let her kiss him? Why had he accepted her by touching her cheek?

He walked into the bathroom, pulling off his shirt and pants and brushing his teeth, crawling into bed wearing only his boxers, Yuffie's face circling his mind.

=====

"Yuffie? Yuffie?" a soft voice whispered, shaking her shoulder.

Yuffie cracked an eye open and found herself staring into the open oval face of Kairi. "Hey Kai..." she said groggily.

"What happened? Where were you tonight?"

"Tonight? It's morning, and since the Gremlins will be back in two days, I'll be taking full advantage of sleeping in."

"No, it's two in the morning. Where were you?" she repeated, sitting on the edge of the bed.

The intimate moment that happened, and the rejection that passed between them came flying into her mind, followed by a degree of intense emotion that almost knocked her off her feet, if she was standing.

"Nothing..." she whispered sorrowfully, diverting her eyes from her. Kairi leaned over and turned on the lamp next to Yuffie's bed. "Come on, Yuf, it's okay...was it with Squall?"

"No," she said harshly.

"You both disappeared into your cabins, and Squall was your accompaniment. There's no need in denying it."

"Leave me the hell alone."

"Yuffie!"

"What?" she said exasperated. She had had enough with this, with living in the stupid camp, by being bitten by bugs, by everything, and no one seemed to want to leave her alone.

"Talk to me. Why don't we ever talk anymore?"

"You want to know why? Because! You convinced me to come on this stupid trip, to be with these stupid people, and I'm not happy here! I'm usually happy, too!" she practically shrieked.

Kairi frowned, a look of pain flickering across her face, then hardening. "Fine. Play it like that."

She stood up abruptly and flipped off the lamp before laying on her bed and violently turning over on her side. Yuffie sighed heavily. Her best friend hated her, and so did her lover, though one kiss could hardly qualify him as one.

-

Yuffie opened her eyes slowly, the sunlight flooding her eyes. She pulled the pillow over her head and groaned. She was so tired. There was no way it was morning already.

"Rise and shine!" Sora chirped from somewhere in the room. Yuffie's eyes widened considerably, and she screamed, rolling out of the bed and landing on her butt.

"What the hell are you _doing _in here?" she shrieked, standing up and breathing a sigh of relief. "You scared the crap out of me."

Sora shrugged from his position in the doorway, then came inside, glancing around. He let his eyes linger on Kairi's lump of a body under the covers, still sleeping, amazingly not woken by her scream.

He made his way around to Kairi's bed and sat down, looking at her fondly. "So you chickened out last night, huh?"

Yuffie scowled. "No. Something unexpected happened."

"Want to talk about it?"

"What, Squall hasn't told you?"

Sora's eyebrows raised. "When has he ever told me anything? Did something..._happen_ happen between you!"

"No, nothing like that!" she exclaimed, covering her face with her hands.

"Then what?"

"It's none of your business," she said brusquely.

"Hey, just trying to help..." he said with a shrug, turning to Kairi and gently shaking her shoulder. "Kai..." he whispered.

"MWAH!" Kairi murmured in her sleep, swatting Sora's hand away. Sora grinned and leaned over her face, staring into her eyes. She opened them quickly and bit back a scream, substituting it for a shove against the wall. She got out of bed and clamped a hand over her mouth.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck after righting himself. "Hey, what was that for?"

Kairi let go of her mouth and lowered her hand. "I have morning breath."

"That's disgusting! I'm not going to kiss you in the morning," he joked. Kairi flushed a pink color and walked into the bathroom, putting a hand on her mussed her self-consciously.

"Uh...what happened between you two last night?" Yuffie inquired, trying to cover up her hurt feelings the way Kairi ignored her.

"We decided our feelings were mutual," he said, a goofy, lopsided grin on his face.

"Great..." she said sarcastically. She stood up and banged on the bathroom door. "Kairi, hurry UP!"

"Yes, Your Goodness," Kairi said dryly as she pushed past Yuffie, shooting her a glare. Sora stupidly misinterpreted this as a friendly passing comment between good friends, just a little quirk or inside joke in their friendship and wrapped his arm around her, leading her out of the cabin.

Yuffie leaned against the wall, covering her face with her hand. All of the sudden, things were happening too fast, too quickly, and she could hardly keep track of anything anymore. She lost her best friend and maybe her boyfriend-to-be in one night, and she hadn't even tried.

She sighed and halted the tears by biting on her tongue. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the sink, splashing her face with cold water and cleaning up a little before showering to get ready to do her bathroom duties.

Yuffie finished scrubbing the last of the toilets, finishing ten minutes earlier than last night.

"And Yuffie finishes, breaking the record with an all time high of forty-two minutes! And the crowd goes wild!" she said, cupping her hands over her mouth and making 'ahh' noises, pretending to be the crowd.

She laughed without any emotion to her voice, and her smile failed to reach her eyes. She was forcing herself to be happy and look cheerful.

After cleaning up her mess and washing her hands, she walked to the door, about to leave, when someone walked through it and smashed Yuffie's nose.

"Agh!" Yuffie stumbled backwards, holding her nose tenderly and glanced up. Valerie was standing before her, giggling madly.

"Oops! Did I hurt you?" she asked, all sugar and spice.

Yuffie straightened up and ignored her pulsing nose. "No, you didn't. Now move so I can get out of here."

"Ask me nicely."

"No! If you can't move I'll _force _you to move," she said, standing her ground. Valerie sighed and shook her head, wagging her finger at her.

"You shouldn't threaten me like that, Yuffums, really you shouldn't. I might just have to get my boyfriend to protect me."

"And who might that be?" Yuffie hissed, rolling her eyes.

"I think you might know him. His name is Squall Leonheart, but everyone knows he likes to be called Leon. He can lift three-hundred plus weights, so I'm sure it would take nothing to beat you into the ground, with your little attitude."

Yuffie took a step back, letting out a whoosh of air like Valerie had punched her in the stomach, a stunned look passing across her face. A smug smile formed on Valerie's lips.

"Hm, not to tough now, are you?" she stated, flipping her black hair out and putting a hand on her hip.

Yuffie glared at her. If Valerie said one more thing, she would go berserk and hit her with all that she had. Her hands were shaking as she said, "Valerie. Get. Out. Now."

For a minute, Valerie looked taken back, but inched to the side and let Yuffie pass, which she did quickly, taking deep breaths to calm herself, tears stinging her eyes. Squall had kissed her, then right after picked up a skanky girlfriend like Valerie. It didn't seem right.

She stopped running in front of the cabin Squall, Riku, Cloud, and Sora lived in, and pushed open the door, rushing inside.

Squall was sitting on the bed, his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. No one else was in the room. She stopped for a moment, not saying anything, then exploded, "Squall Leonheart!" With a gasp of air, she said more softly, "How could you?"

Squall ignored her, the only acknowledgement he gave her was a deep breath before he closed his eyes. "Go away, Yuffie."

"No I will not go away! How could you do that to me!?" she yelled, circling his bed. He shook his head.

With his eyes still closed like he was trying to go to sleep, he said, "I didn't do anything."

"You took Valerie as a girlfriend right after we kissed!"

"Has it occurred to you that Valerie was my girlfriend before you kissed me?" he asked, opening his eyes.

Yuffie's jaw dropped. "No...you-you wouldn't!" she said.

"Well, it's true."

She furrowed her eyebrows together. "B-but..." Carefully she lowered herself down onto his bed, frowning, pain pulsing through her veins each time her heart beat. It seemed like something was gluing her to the ground, not letting her move. She looked down at him, laying there, looking up at her with those stormy blue eyes, denying her. His soft brown hair fell into his eyes, and his scar looked as good as ever. If he was so cruel, how could he be so attractive?

"Yuffie, you're nice but..." he trailed off.

"But not good enough for you, huh?" she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

He didn't say anything. Yuffie bit her lip and nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I see."

"Yuffie, just stop crying..."

"Oh, so are you only being nice to me because you're rejecting me now?" she said bitterly. She wiped at her tears, not sure whether to leave or stay here, plaguing Squall when she knew he was in an awkward position.

He put a hand on her back, sitting up and sitting next to her, making her choke and cover her face with her hands, crying softly into them. He was touching her...but in a platonic way. There were no feelings for him like she felt.

"I...have to go..." she whispered, standing up, the spell broken, abruptly running out of the cabin.

=====

Squall ran a hand through his hair and watched her go, filled with self loathing. How could he lie outright about Valerie being his girlfriend _before _the kiss? He had some nerve to go and hurt her again. He cared about her, which was a big thing for him to admit. It had taken him a long time to say it to himself, but now, with the way he was pushing Yuffie away, it would probably take even more time to accept it.

He stood up and watched her run straight into Aerith and fall backwards onto the ground, not even realizing she had hit anyone, and started sobbing into her knees. Aerith knelt next to her and her lips started to move, but he couldn't read what they were saying.

He hesitated, unsure if he should go out there and comfort her or stay out of it. The last thing he wanted to do was stay in the cabin when he knew Valerie would be by to drag him out to lunch.

_Why did I even allow her to call me her boyfriend? _Now this would grow out of control. He sighed and jammed his hands in his pockets and walked out of the cabin, carefully avoiding Yuffie and walking the other way. He had to take a walk and think things out.

About halfway through the walk, a certain blonde and blue eyed man greeted him with a nod and stopping him where he was.

"Leonheart," Cloud said, leaning against a tree, indicating he wanted to stay and talk.

"Strife," he said in a low voice. He kept his hands in pockets and stared at him. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just stopping a friend for a little talk," he said slyly. "Seen Aerith?"

"No," he said bluntly, lying again. He didn't feel like staying here, talking in circles.

Cloud's face fell. "You didn't? I could have sworn I saw her there a little bit ago," he said, scratching his head.

"Well, maybe she was over there, why don't you check?" he asked as more of a statement.

"Gotcha."

Squall didn't wait to watch him leave; he simply turned around and kept on walking straight ahead like before, shaking his head. A girl with long black hair approached him, a smug and confident smile plastered on her lips.

"Squall," Valerie said, taking his hand and stopping him, openly sizing him up. "I thought you would be in the cabin. I was going there just now."

"Valerie..." Squall said cordially.

Valerie grinned at him and took both of his hand in hers and leaned forward, about to lay a soft kiss on his lips. Someone spun Valerie around and threw a powerful hit in her face, making Valerie cry out and fall on the ground. Blood dripped from her broken lip.

It was Yuffie, red-faced and looking angry. Valerie glared at her, fury etched into her beautiful looks. "Bitch!" she screeched, getting up and grabbing Yuffie's hair and yanking her head backwards.

Yuffie screamed and got out of her grip and kicked Valerie in the stomach, then karate chopped her back as she doubled over, getting her on the ground once again. She coughed into the dust and got up slowly, clutching her stomach, looking demented with her hair full of dirt and blood drying on her chin and lips.

Valerie charged at Yuffie, and started pummeling punches and slaps and scratches into her face, crying loudly, for the first time that Squall had seen. He barely had time to react as they started rolling around on the ground.

Finally he snapped out of his trance and grabbed someone's arm and yanked them up. It was Valerie, scratched and bloodied and breathing heavily.

"Let go of me!" she yelled, trying to get out of his strong grip.

"Settle down," he growled. "Do you want Sheryl to know you were fighting? You'll get thrown out of here!"

That shut her up. He let her go, convinced she would behave for at least a few more seconds and crouched next to Yuffie. Her left eye was swelling badly, scratches were everywhere, a cut on her forehead was dripping blood, and she was unconscious.

"Good going, Valerie," Squall muttered. He picked Yuffie up bridal style and noticed her head had landed against a rock, where her forehead must have hit. Valerie's jaw dropped.

"She started fighting me!" she yelled, looking at Yuffie wearily.

"It doesn't matter," he said, and left Valerie standing there, dumbfounded, and carried Yuffie to the nurse's office.

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_So, how was this chapter? I need to know! By the way, the State competition was really, really fun! I didn't win any awards though. But the campus was really gorgeous, even though it was a hick town..._

_Review, please!! Even though this is one of my shorter chapters...but I have an excuse! I wanted to get it out! -_


	8. Love is a Funny Thing

THANK YOU reviewers! Now, just go on and read this next chapter, go one, it will make me happy, you know that! There is some fluffy stuff in here. I personally hate the kind of fluff I wrote about. I like kissing fluff. But this is okay, I don't want any real action going on just yet.

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_Summer Nights_

_Chapter 8_

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Yuffie felt the pain before she even opened her eyes. It hit her like needles throughout her body, and a dull throb in her forehead, like someone had been hacking at it with a dull blade. She opened her eyes slowly, and was greeted with the old nurse's face right next to hers.

"Nice of you to join us, today," she said kindly, rubbing a cool cloth over her face after dipping it in a water basin. "A nice young man brought you in after you got into a fight and got knocked unconscious. Then he left. But you were here overnight, dear."

"I...was...?" Yuffie asked, swallowing hard. Whoa, a whole night? "You aren't going to tell anyone, are you? Like...Sheryl?" she said, worried. If Sheryl knew, she would be kicked out as a counselor.

"Bah, no. That Valerie gets on my nerves, she does!" the nurse exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "No worries, dear."

"Thanks," Yuffie said with a grin. "I can go now, can't I?"

"Get going!" the nurse said, waving her hand in the air to get her going. Yuffie obliged and quickly jumped off the bed and ran out the door, ignoring the pain she was feeling. Next year, she was definitely NOT coming back to Campo Kaman. She had already had too many injuries in one week and a half.

A week and a half? She would be gone in less than a week, that meant. And the Gremlins would be back by the next day. Wiping off her sweaty forehead with a groan, she wished the nurse would have given her the cool cloth rag.

Her feet seemed to take control of themselves, and she found herself outside her cabin door. Kairi was standing outside the door, her arms wrapped around Sora and kissing him passionately on the mouth, their tongues dancing together.

Yuffie's jaw dropped and her face heated up at least thirty more degrees than it had been before. She had never seen Kairi kiss like that before!

Embarrassed that she had disturbed their little "moment," she pushed past them into the cabin before they could protest and slammed the door shut, closing her eyes slowly, remembering that Kairi was still mad at her.

She didn't understand how one little thing made her so angry. And she didn't seem to care that they were fighting, either. Kairi seemed to be enjoying herself, while she was growing more and more depressed. It seemed like she hadn't even been worried when Yuffie was gone at the nurse's for a night.

Glancing once out the window to find them still lip-locked, she looked away painfully and flopped down on her bed. Now more than ever she wished the Gremlins were back from that stupid trip to get her mind off things.

Yuffie closed her eyes and tried to drift off to sleep, but she couldn't. So many thoughts were dancing across her mind. Squall and his rejection, Kairi and her new found passion, the Gremlins, her punishment, how much she hated Valerie...

"AHH!" she screamed and punched her pillow so it made a dent in the middle. This was all too much to stand. She sighed heavily so it came out almost a screech and pushed her head against the pillow. She heard Kairi come through the door and sit on the edge of Yuffie's bed.

"Yuffie, why are we fighting?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," came Yuffie's muffled reply.

"I think we should stop and get over it. I see you...saw my new boyfriend."

"That's old news, Kairi. I was just surprised you were kissing him like that."

"Well, I'm seventeen. I think it was about time to give up my innocent little girl act."

"Apparently you did it well, too. With me. You would never act like that towards me before," she replied bitterly.

"I know, and I'm sorry. Forgive?"

Yuffie lifted her head from the pillow and stared at Kairi. She did seem sincere, and this was the first time they had ever gotten into a fight before. "Forgive," she said finally, pulling her into a hug. Kairi hugged back then pulled away, a smile on her face.

"Good. Now I don't feel so bad anymore," she said with a sort of relieved sigh. Yuffie nodded and laid back on her pillow.

"So where were you yesterday?"

"I got into a fight with Valerie. A fist fight. And I had to stay in the nurses office."

"That little..." Kairi paused, then as if testing it on her tongue, said, "That little bitch!"

Yuffie laughed and gave her a little shove. Kairi giggled, then settled down and sighed. "I miss Sora."

"You were just making out with him not even six minutes ago!"

"So? I still miss him. I miss him even when he's with me."

A look of pain flashed across Yuffie's face. "I know what you mean."

"Yeah..." Kairi said slowly, as if not paying attention and lost in her own thoughts. "Wait...you do?"

"I never told you what happened during the little initiation, did I?" Yuffie said. Kairi shook her head.

Yuffie explained what happened to a stunned Kairi. She giggled and gasped in all the right places, making for a good audience. When Yuffie finished, Kairi was fuming.

"How dare he! How _dare _he go and do that to you!" she hissed menacingly. Yuffie shrugged.

"I don't find it hard to believe..."

"Oh Yuf! You deserve better than him!"

"No, no I don't. He is the right one, and if I can't have him, then I don't want anyone else! Besides, Squall is a god, there is no better than him," Yuffie said with a little laugh that couldn't hide her pain.

Kairi patted a hand on her shoulder, trying to be comforting. "Don't worry, he'll come around. There is no better person than you."

"Thanks Kai. But...I think I have to go and do something for...Sheryl. You know," Yuffie lied. She just felt like being alone. Maybe, she though unconsciously, she would run into Squall. When she realized she was thinking this, she scowled at herself and stood up. Kairi nodded and jumped onto her own bed and flipped through a magazine.

She left the cabin and walked along a short trail, stopping at a large boulder that a bunch of the Gremlins had painted different colors one day and climbed up, her chin resting on her hands. The breeze sifted through her short, black hair and caressed her face.

She closed her eyes, trying to imagine nothing, trying to keep her mind off of _him_. Loud footsteps suddenly broke through the peaceful silence, and seemed to be getting louder.

Yuffie's throat tightened quickly, and her slender thumb twitched. Those footsteps sounded like Squall's. Was he going to come over here and talk to her?

_Stop thinking like he was your boyfriend or something. It was just a stupid kiss and there is no emotional attachment, _she thought angrily.

The footsteps stopped next to her. Yuffie sighed and opened her eyes to look into Squall's, but flung herself backwards while looking into the face of—

"Valerie?!" Yuffie gasped in surprised. She had been so sure it was Squall.

Valerie sneered. "What the hell were you doing? Praying or something?"

Yuffie scowled. "Maybe, maybe not. Why would _you _be interested?"

"Oh, trust me, I'm not," she scoffed sarcastically.

"Really? Then it would be great if you could scatter and leave me alone," Yuffie said tartly, giving her an intense stare, willing her to go away. She was trying to steer clear of insults or anything of the sort to avoid another fight, but she was just itching to jump her when she turned her back.

Valerie turned and walked away haughtily, purposefully making her luxurious hair swing behind her towards the lake, swaying her hips and eyeing up any guy that passed her. She held up a hand on the way there, giving off a rude hand gesture that made Yuffie jump off the rock.

She held out her hands, lowering them slowly while breathing out. Her temper was getting the best of her, and Valerie and her bitchiness was such a distraction she could hardly think of anything but her hatred of her while she was around.

A euphonic voice interrupted her thoughts. Yuffie glanced up just as Vanera sat next to her, obliviously unaware of Yuffie's anger and leaned against the rock.

"Hey Yufs, what's up?" she asked, looking at her and awaiting an answer.

"Nothing, really...just anxious to get out of here. Only a few more days left," Yuffie said, forcing a laugh. Vanera studied her for a moment, then decided it was genuine.

"I guess there won't be a talent show. No one really openly confessed spiking the punch, did they?" Vanera said wistfully. "I kind of wanted to sing one of my songs."

Yuffie nodded and smiled slightly. Vanera always had a great voice and was an awesome song writer, but not many knew about it.

There was a mutual silence after her last sentence. Yuffie arched her back and yawned, the sun warming her clothes. Vanera sighed and closed her eyes, then opened them. "This counselor thing went by really, really fast. I'm glad Kairi convinced me. I think I'll go back next summer."

Yuffie surprised herself and said, "Yeah...me too."

==========

Yuffie scrubbed around a particularly disgusting toilet seat, obediently fulfilling her punishment to clean the restrooms and sighed. This was starting to get really tiring. Waking up early in the morning to clean, then staying up late into the night cleaning. There was no point in doing it in the morning when, after she cleaned it at night, no one went in!

A clap of thunder made her jump, spilling her bucket of dirty gray water all over the floor. A loud rumble followed, then a jagged flash of lightning. The lights overhead flickered on and off, fluttering slightly.

Yuffie stood up and pulled out some paper towels from the dispenser to clean up the mess, groaning at how big the puddle was. Not only that, she would have to fill up another bucket with fresh, soapy water.

The pattering sound and musky smell of rain filled her nostrils. Thunder, even louder than before, seemed to crash down on her ears. She looked up at the lights that looked extremely unsteady, as if they were about to go out on her.

The lights flickered once more before going out, leaving Yuffie in pure darkness...unless you counted occasional flashes of lightning.

"Nooo! Don't leave me!" she moaned, directed to the lights before stumbling to the puddle of water. Her foot touched down on the spot and she slipped, shrieking before hitting the ground with a _thud_.

_This is really my day..._Yuffie thought before standing up, dripping in water that she couldn't even bring herself to _think _what had touched it.

The door to the bathroom was thrown open, making another loud crash that startled Yuffie even more. She turned around, holding her hands up, starting to grow increasingly frightened. Not really of one thing, but the whole package: no lights, loud noises, empty stalls that could easily hide anyone...

Yuffie laughed nervously and bent down on her hands and knees, preparing to wipe up her mess. Sheryl wouldn't believe Yuffie if she told her the lights went out, and even if she did, she would say that she should have done it anyway.

Wiping it up sloppily and tossing the paper towels in the trash bin, she carried the bucket to the sinks and filled it up with hot water after pouring in some soap and carried it back to the toilet she had been working on, the hot water sloshing over the sides and hitting her sandaled feet.

She set it down carefully and was about to pick up her scrubber, but paused when she heard a _click _and then a shuffle. She drew in a quick breath and stood still, listening, and not daring to move from her spot. With impending fear, she forced herself to move to the sinks where she had a clear view of everything but the stalls.

Yuffie put a hand over her mouth. The door had been open before...and now it was closed. She knew for a fact she hadn't closed it.

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror above the sink, staring at the blue bags under her eyes and how tired she looked. It was just nerves on end. The wind blew the door closed. The longer she stalled, the longer she would be up.

Thunder rumbled and a flash of lightning lit up the room momentarily with a bright, bluish silver glow. The outline of a figure behind her was visible for nearly a second before the room became black again.

Yuffie stumbled back, screaming, and clutched a hand over her mouth. She bumped into the person behind her who firmly grabbed her wrist and spun her around.

She squirmed away from his grasp, her heart racing. The taste of blood filled her mouth from where she had screamed then quickly clamped down on her mouth.

"Shut up, it's me!" someone said in a low growl.

"Sq-Squall?!" Yuffie asked. The grip on her arm dropped. She couldn't see anyone at all, only able to feel his body heat radiating off of him because of how close they were, and smell his scent mixed in with the rain water.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" he asked angrily.

"You took the words out of my mouth."

"I had to go to the bathroom," he said, as if she must be stupid for not knowing that.

"In the middle of the night?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes. It's when someone wakes up and they have to take a piss," he said slowly.

"I don't do that. I hold it until morning."

"Is your bladder abnormally large?"

"No."

"Well your mouth is," he said, then paused. "And why are you here?"

Yuffie frowned. He was being so cold now, when just yesterday he was being so kind to her. She bit her lip. "I got into trouble with Sheryl because _she _thinks _I _spiked the punch when it was really Valerie, your girlfriend," she said bitterly.

"She isn't my girlfriend."

"Yes she is, she told me so, and you did, too!" Yuffie said shrilly.

"Not directly," he denied.

"Don't say that, you know you did. What do you mean she's not your girlfriend?"

Squall sighed and crossed his arms. "I lied."

"What...?"

"She called me her boyfriend one day and I stupidly said nothing of it. Sorry. I only said she was my girlfriend because I wanted you to leave me alone."

Yuffie was silent. "Fine. Go to the bathroom then get out of here. I won't bother you anymore and I have to finish this mess."

He was still standing there, but the darkness hid his expression. "Yuffie..." he said in a softer tone.

"What?" she asked, looking away.

He reached out to touch her cheek but reeled away. Yuffie bit her cheek. What was going on here? Squall used the bathroom and came out, washing his hands. He seemed completely unaffected by the loud thunder and lightning.

Yuffie leaned against on of the other sinks, closing her eyes. She was so tired...

"Yuffie...wake up."

"I'm up!" she half-shouted.

"You fell asleep," Squall said.

"For how long?" she asked wearily.

"Only a minute..."

"Oh."

"You look tired as hell. Why don't you get to bed?"

"Because Sheryl will kill me if I don't clean up this mess!" Yuffie said in a soft, emotionless voice that screamed she was about to pass out if she didn't get into a bed soon.

"Come on...I'm taking you home," Squall said, grabbing her hand and starting to drag her to the door. Yuffie pulled back swiftly.

"No, not yet," she murmured sleepily, staring out the window. The rain was heavy and pounding, half the size of a marble, and wasn't letting up.

"Fine, suit yourself," Squall said and opened the door. Wind blew rain straight into his eyes and his hair flew back. Yuffie sighed and considered. Stay here, alone, cleaning, or go home and sleep, and face some mild consequences...

"Hey! Wait up!" Yuffie shouted. Squall paused as she ran out the door, letting it flap in the wind.

"C'mon, let's make a run for it," he said, an amused look in his eye. Even though he wasn't smiling, it was the first time Yuffie had ever seen him look like that. She broke into a wide grin.

He started running first. Yuffie broke into a sprint and passed him easily, being lighter and more agile than he was. She slowed down and grabbed his hand, forcing him to go faster. The rain had already plastered her clothes and hair to her like a second skin, and anymore time in the frigid rain would make her an ice cube.

Yuffie laughed and glanced over her shoulder. Squall was just barely making it, breathing heavily and looking like his feet weighed twenty pounds each. When she knew he couldn't keep going she stopped and let go of his hand reluctantly.

He put his hands on his knees and breathed in heavily. She muffled another laugh. "I think you need to start running more. I'm not even winded!" she said.

"Because that big mouth of yours steals air like a fish breathes water," he said, but it didn't really sound mean. Kind of...fond.

Yuffie grinned. This Squall was much better than the mean Squall. A look flickered across his face, like he was thinking the same thing. He took a step away from her, realizing they were a little close.

She shivered once he was farther away from her. No more of his body heat mingled with hers. Brazenly, Yuffie took a step closer to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. He gave her a look, but she could only shrug. "I'm cold!"

They walked slowly in the rain. They were already soaked to the bone, there was no way they could get any wetter. Yuffie's euphoria ended too soon when her cabin came into view, completely dark.

Yuffie walked up the stairs and stood a step above Squall. "Thanks for walking me home..." she said, now growing shy.

"It's fine."

"No, really—it was sweet of you."

Yuffie leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth. Once her lips touched down he seemed to relax significantly. She smiled inwardly. So now she knew his soft spot.

She kept her lips there longer than normal and put her hands in his hair, kissing his cheek then his jaw. She reddened, realizing she had overdone it, and pulled away, feeling mortified.

_Yuffie! He's going to be disgusted with you._

She felt like slapping herself.

Squall gripped her hands to stop her from moving away and drew her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her back. She entwined her hands around his neck. He leaned closer to her face, hovering above her lips before kissing her softly.

He let go of her and walked slowly down the steps and into the rain. It was so thick she couldn't see where he had gone.

Everything that just happened hit her with full force, making her lean against the wall of the cabin for support. She had kissed him...again. Her heart was high and fluttery, beating hard. The ache she had had in her chest felt full.

She opened the door absently and walked inside, shaking, half-way from excitement and half-way from coldness. Squall confused her. First, he was pushing her away, the next they're kissing in the rain.

Love is a funny thing.

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Well, this story is shortly coming to a close. I love this story, but it just has to end. I have...I think two stories that I haven't finished yet and one that I'm working on now that I haven't posted, then I have that co-authoring story with Annjirika. Not to mention a zillion one-shots I haven't finished. I feel so overwhelmed! -

Now help me out and review! ...please?


	9. The Gremlins Are Back

Awww...I love you guys! Thanks for the great reviews. I really appreciate them; they seriously motivate me and cheer me up. I look forward to seeing a Review Alert in my inbox more than my friend's emails, sometimes! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and enjoy this one, too.

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_Summer Nights_

_Chapter 9_

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Yuffie sat on her bed at 9:30 A.M the next morning, pulling a brush through her slightly tangled black hair and wiped at a piece of lint on her freshly washed green Camp Kaman suit, a disgusted look on her face.

"I hate this. I wish the Gremlins didn't have to come back," she complained, dropping her brush beside her lap and picking up a compact mirror, checking her reflection. She had never been one to wear much make-up, but last night's kiss made her slightly self-conscious. Confident there weren't any blemishes on her face, she popped a mint into her mouth—just in case.

She decided that she wanted to keep her kiss with Squall a secret from Kairi until she felt confident about telling her. When she had never been kissed, the first thing she knew she would do would be tell Kairi all about how it went, but now all she wanted to do was keep it personal.

"Well..." Kairi said thoughtfully, touching up on her eyes with a liner, "There's only about...what, three days left and we go home? They had to have some kind of end of the year fun time."

"So the campsite should have kept them and spared us all," she said with a laugh, then got serious. "Now, tell me, if you are already at a camp, why would you go and camp somewhere else?"

"Because, we sleep in cabins, and the point of camping is to sleep in a tent and stuff," Kairi said as though it were obvious.

"Either way...we never even got to have a war between the Gremlins and the boys. Geez, we hardly did anything," she said, glancing at Kairi, who was still brooding in front of a hand mirror.

"Well...you are right. When I was little we did more. But I think the punch kind of set everything off track...we never even got to do that talent show that is _always _annual."

"I did kind of want to do that..." Yuffie said wistfully.

"Besides," Kairi added with a grin, "Why don't we do something tonight? It isn't too late to make an attack on the guys. While we're at it, why don't we sneak into the other counselor cabins?"

A slow grin spread across Yuffie's lips. She nodded and bounced up and down on the bed in an excited way. "Yeah...that'll be awesome! Do you have any black clothes? And some of that stuff football guys smear over their cheeks?"

"Uh-huh! Well...sorta. We could always use my eye-liner. Or some really dark eye-shadow."

"Oh yeah! This'll be so much fun!" Yuffie shrieked.

"What will be so much fun?" Aerith asked, walking through the screen door, also wearing the ugly counselor outfits. Vanera trailed in behind her, mud all over her shoes.

_Last night's storm must have done some damage, _she thought.

"We're going to do an all-out attack on the guys tonight," Kairi said, finally pulling away from her reflection and clipping two butterfly clips on one side of her crimson hair. "You guys have black clothes, right?"

"Definitely. Finally, we get to do something fun!" Vanera said with a smirk.

"I don't know...we might get in more trouble, and Yuffie won't be able to deal with that..." Aerith said hesitantly.

"Oh c'mon, Aerith! Sheryl won't kick me out, she can't. We're about to leave anyway," Yuffie protested with the roll of her eyes. Aerith still looked hesitant.

"You can get Cloud!" Kairi said in a sing-song voice, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

"Well..." Aerith seemed on the edge of saying 'yes.'

"Then just be the look-out!" Yuffie said finally, sighing. "Aerith...for once, be wild! Go crazy! Grab some shaving cream!" Well, maybe that wasn't crazy, but for Aerith, that was as insane as she could get.

"Fine, I'll do it."

"Great!" Kairi half-shouted, pulling her into a warm hug. Aerith laughed and hugged her back.

"ALL COUNSELORS REPORT TO THE BUS DROP-OFF TO COLLECT THEIR KIDS. I REPEAT, ALL COUNSELORS REPORT TO THE BUS DROP-OFF TO COLLECT THEIR KIDS! "

Yuffie sighed and jumped off the bed, feeling bouncy and looking forward to the day, even if the Gremlins were back.

"Come on, Kai, we got some Gremlin butt to tackle!" Yuffie said, grabbing Kairi's wrist that was trying to reach to some lip-gloss.

"Hey!" she protested, trying to pull back. "Sora's supposed to meet me for lunch, I need my lip-gloss!"

"Oh, trust me, Kairi-darling, your kisses are wet and slippery enough without it. Sora has told me all about it," Yuffie said with a giggle.

"What?!" Kairi whispered, horrified, her hands flying up to her lips. Her eyes were wide and a slow blush was crawling into her cheeks. "He said that?"

"No," Yuffie replied, dragging her out of the cabin with a wave to Aerith and Vanera, but they had already left. "I just wanted to get you to come with me."

Kairi glared at her and pulled her arm away, looking highly affronted. "I can escort myself there, thanks..."

"Oh, geez Kai, lighten up. It's called a joke. Sane people laugh at them."

"There, there! Look, they're getting off the buses now!" Yuffie shouted, grabbing Kairi's arm and roughly dragged her through the crowd of people and were rewarded with glares as the people got bumped or hit.

Six children approached them, looking slightly shy, all except one, Cindy, who wore a distasteful angry face.

_Oh no, _Yuffie thought. _I've grown accustomed to not having that little brat Cindy around...I still remember when she threw dirt in my face. _

"Hi guys!" Kairi said enthusiastically, hugging each of them in turn. Yuffie rolled her eyes and hung back, crossing her arms and waiting impatiently for her to finish with the love. "Have we got a surprise for you..." Kairi said in a hushed whisper, gripping Mai's and Lexi's hand.

Kairi told them of her plans about the boys on the way to their cabin to drop off their luggage from camping, including a jar of dead lightning bugs that Kara didn't seem to want to let go of, but Kairi eventually convinced her to set it down.

Yuffie collapsed onto the couch once they got into the cabin and waited for them to put their duffel bags away, chattering happily about the games they played while camping. Kairi sat next to Yuffie and smiled at them fondly.

"I kind of missed them while they were away, didn't you?" she asked, watching them struggle to put their clothes away into the top drawers.

"Not really..." Yuffie said and raised her eyebrows. "I mean...it's because I've never really liked kids and I will never have any kids," she added hastily at Kairi's look.

"Hey! Don't try to put your stuff into the drawers, you guys, just keep it on the ground because you're going to start packing tomorrow, anyway," Kairi yelled from across the room. She turned back to Yuffie, still with that fond I-love-kids-and-I-like-to-show-it look, or even an aren't-kids-adorable look.

"What's the schedule, today?" Yuffie asked while looking down at her shirt and picking at some more lint, frowning. "This shirt is terrible..."

"I'm not sure."

"I'm not sure, either. I don't care to pay attention to Sheryl anymore. Oh...no..."

"What?"

Yuffie turned to look at her, horror on her face. "I never...I never finished cleaning the bathrooms last night...it's a mess in there, Sheryl is gonna know!"

Kairi shook her head. "Sheryl is so nice, she'll let it slide just this once."

Yuffie seized Kairi's shoulder and started to shake her slightly. "Kairi. That. Woman. Is. The. Spawn. Of. Satan."

Kairi looked horrified. "Yuffie! Don't say that! I love Sheryl!"

"Then marry her," she replied bitterly, glancing out the window to the bathrooms. "I know Sheryl will check. I've got to be the unluckiest person in the world. I BET today is the day she's going to check to see if I cleaned the bathrooms."

Kairi shook her head again as if dismissing the thought. "Nah, Sheryl won't mind. I mean, she really didn't have any proof of you doing anything, does she?" she quipped rhetorically.

"Well do you think that will stop a ruthless bi—mmmphh!" Kairi clasped a hand over Yuffie's mouth.

"There are little kids here!" she hissed.

"Mmmpph..." Yuffie growled in a muffled voice. Kairi finally let go of her when all six of them crowded around their knees.

"So, what are we doing today?" Mai asked.

"Yeah, let's do something fun!" Lexi shouted.

"No. Let's just stay here," said Cindy fiercely, her cheeks ruddier than usual.

"Why don't we go to the art cabin and do some crafts?" Kairi suggested. "Yuffie?"

"Sure..." she said absent mindedly, waving her hand airily.

They left the cabin, the Gremlins skipping ahead of them, chattering happily and grinning at each other, singing loudly and apparently happy to be back from the trip. Yuffie sighed and kicked the art door open, holding it with her heel and closing it behind her once Kairi, the last person, was finally in.

Three other counselors had had the same idea and brought their kids, too. They were already doing messy finger-paints and coloring drawings out of the line. Kairi gathered some paper plates, glitter, markers, pencils, glue, scissors, and held it all in her arms, putting it down on an empty table.

"We're going to make turtle shells," Kairi said, sitting them all down. Yuffie nodded.

"Kai...you're a genius."

Halfway into the project, Yuffie's was turning out pretty stylish. She cut the paper plate to make it smaller and more round, then glued yellow and green construction paper onto the back in a broken glass effect after cutting them carefully, then added sparkles and some confetti. She was gripping a black marker in her hand that had been partially dried and pushed down by previous uses, but it would have to do for the face.

"Would Yuffie Kisaragi please report to the bathrooms? I repeat, would Yuffie Kisaragi please report to the bathrooms?" came the voice over the loudspeakers.

"Oh no..." Yuffie whispered, cringing. All of the Gremlins turned to her, pointing at her and wide-eyed. Slowly, she stood up. Kairi cast her a sympathizing look, although it clearly showed that she thought Yuffie deserved it.

She took in a deep breath and bit part of her bottom lip when she reached the bathrooms after walking through huge wet spots filled with water and mud.

"Yuffie? Come in here, please," came a familiar female voice from through the windows.

Yuffie put her arms down at her sides as if she were calm; she would not let Sheryl intimidate her. She pushed the door open and last night's mess came into view. The spilled dirty water, the paper towels she must have forgotten to throw away littering the ground, and all kinds of mud staining the tile floor. Sheryl stood among this, absolutely livid.

"Sheryl—I can explain..." Yuffie said quickly just as Sheryl was opening her mouth.

"Please do," she said in a cool voice.

"I was cleaning and the lights suddenly went out...and I spilled the bucket of water and had to get more, and the storm just kept going on and on and I couldn't see. _Someone _came into the bathroom to use one of the stalls and scared me and we ended up leaving because it was really late and I was a wreck," she said in almost on breath. She made sure not to mention Squall, because she was positive there was a rule that there were no bathrooms allowed sometime after eleven o'clock at night.

"Right, like I'm going to believe that cock-and-bull story?" she scoffed, an ugly black bow tied into her salt-and-pepper hair, also wearing a Camp Kaman suit.

"Well...it's the truth..." Yuffie said, then tried to shrug it off. She tried her best, now what Sheryl did was up to her.

"Okay."

"What?!" Yuffie gasped in surprise.

"I said okay. Clean this up before anyone notices and get back to what you were doing," Sheryl said and walked out. Yuffie's jaw dropped. Since when was Sheryl that nice? Not since the beginning of camp. Maybe now that they were about to leave she was getting nicer.

Yuffie turned from the empty doorway and put her hands on her hips. Time to clean the mess up. She grabbed a couple of old rags and started wiping up the water, trying to breath through her mouth as the smell that was wafting from it was almost overpowering.

"Playing maid again?" said a deep, low voice from behind her. Yuffie jumped and looked over her shoulder, a hand clutching her chest.

"Squall..." she said dreamily. "I mean...Leon. What are you doing here?"

"I heard the announcement so I figured I would come see what happened," he said with a shrug and leaned against the wall, watching her closely with his ice blue, intense gaze.

Yuffie almost melted. He was the most attractive, intelligent, mature guy she had ever known, or ever _kissed. _And he was hers...

"Wait a minute! What about Valerie?!" Yuffie said in a half-accusing voice.

Squall seemed unperturbed. "What _about _her?"

"You told me she was your girlfriend! Then you kissed me! You know what you are, you're a lousy, good for nothing play—"

Squall shot his arm out and pulled Yuffie closer, silencing her with a quick kiss. He let her go and shook his head, his shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes. "She liked to _think _we were...but...the reason why I let her is because I didn't want you close to me."

"Why not?" she whispered, close enough to smell him, her nose so close to his neck...

"Because that's the way it is."

Yuffie raised her eyes to look at him. He was looking away, purposefully avoiding her gaze, but kept a firm arm on her waist.

"So, you lied? She was never your girlfriend?"

"No."

"I...guess I forgive you..." she said slowly, then grinned. "That means—does that—am I your girlfriend, then?"

She didn't need an answer. The way he looked at her, the way he made her feel so sexy was enough. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him, leaning her head against his chest. He had such strong arms. She felt so protected here. They fit together; it felt right.

"I need to clean up," she mumbled, pulling away from him and finishing her job faster than before, tossing the rags and old paper towels into the trash bin and overlooking her work. "Ahh...that's better. I think I'll skip tonight and come really early in the morning to make up for it."

"...Why?" Squall questioned, looking at her.

"Because I have to do something, tonight. Top secret, girl's only," she said with a mysterious wink.

Without another word, she pranced out of the bathroom, enjoying the feeling of knowing something he didn't and leaving him absolutely stupefied.

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_I absolutely hated this chapter! But at least there was fluff. I meant to put in the raid in this chapter but it's __4 A.M.__ and I'm about to topple over!! Please review for me! Woo...almost fell asleep there...okay....-_

_P.S: I want this story to beat my other story, "Fallen" which had nine chapters and 101 reviews. So...this chapter is the ninth. Let's see if we can top 101!! If we do, I'll do something special for you guys...but I don't know what. Hmm. Extra special fluff? Write a lemon? (not probable..I'm underage! But you never know!! ) NOW REVIEW OR ELSE I'll.....I'll write a Yuffid! A Yuffie x Cid. And Annjirika and pingpong867 will know I will write on of those...and trust me, it won't be pretty. Trust me. _


	10. Things Come to an End

This is the first story that has reached ten chapters! Hurray! My muse has definitely been working overtime. I have a lot of story ideas in my head and I cannot wait to write them! The thing is, when I need her most, she's away on vacation and I have no ideas. BUT that's not important now! This should be a good chapter...and the last chapter, too. Hey, I told you guys to help me get 101 reviews! I KNOW, I am soo cruel...really. But it had to end, didn't it? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter as much as I loved writing it. This has been my favorite chapter by far.  
  
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Summer Nights Chapter 10  
  
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"Ready?"  
  
"Ready."  
  
"Ready?"  
  
"I'm ready."  
  
"...wait, not me!"  
  
Yuffie tried to pull a pair of black leather pants on, but the heat of the night made her legs sticky and therefore the leather was clinging to her thighs annoyingly. Finally, she got them on and picked up a black, long- sleeved T-shirt, pulling it on, and hurriedly smearing black cream under her eyes.  
  
Vanera grinned and adjusted the belt on her camouflage pants, pulling a piece of cut nylon over her head so it looked like she was about to rob a bank.  
  
"Now are you ready?" Kairi asked, dressed down in black. Yuffie nodded and smiled, picking up a bag of shaving cream and honey, flinging it over her back.  
  
"Good. Okay, girls, this is Operation X. Our mission: to steal the boys' underwear, then proceed to smear dirt on them so it looks like they soiled themselves and set them up for all to see, and then we will put honey on the doorknobs and handles, and spray shaving cream on them while we're leaving," Kairi said in a hushed voice.  
  
Aerith nodded, still looking a bit hesitant, dressed in pink tank-top and black pants. She didn't want to part with the pink so they had to settle for the closest thing they could get.  
  
"Let's move out!" Kairi said in an anxious voice.  
  
They filed out of the cabin, keeping to the walls and crouching stealthily. Yuffie just couldn't seem to stop herself from bursting out giggling every few seconds at how stupid they were acting. She hummed the James Bond song while ducking under an open window where Sheryl slept, not daring to take a peek inside.  
  
They reached the cabin that held Squall, Cloud, Sora, and Riku. Vanera crept up and slowly opened the door, wincing when it creaked and paused, listening to see if they had woken up. Silence.  
  
Kairi mouthed, "Move in!"  
  
They all slowly crept inside, glancing at the forms on the beds. A sly smile crept onto Yuffie's lips when she spotted Squall, just barely illuminated by the moonlight. His face was free of any traces of a scowl or frown; in fact, he looked like he was smirking.  
  
Yuffie opened up one of the top drawers while the others ducked under her and opened the ones below, shuffling through the clothing. A few pairs of boxers were in Yuffie's drawer.  
  
"Bingo," she whispered, and pulled one out. They attacked the other drawers and grabbed the other guys' underwear, muffling laughs. Vanera opened the bag and pulled out a bear-shaped honey holder and squeezed some on every doorknob she could find, then on the sink handles and their bar of soap.  
  
Yuffie plunged her hand into her pocket and pulled out a violent shade of red lipstick that her grandmother had given her on her birthday, saying she 'was a woman now and deserved to look pretty for the gentlemen.'  
  
Moving slowly, she stepped into the bathroom and took of the tacky golden cap of the lipstick and rolled the color up, smearing it onto the mirror, spelling out the words: "Gotcha! From your favorite dream team."  
  
She put it away just as Kairi and Aerith were grabbing the shaving cream bottles, backing out of the cabin while spraying long streams of the musky shaving cream all over their beds and the floor. Yuffie was the last to leave, making sure not to touch the door handle and closing it softly behind her.  
  
Someone was standing stock still in front of her. She bumped into them. "Hey!"  
  
"Busted!" came the gleeful voice of Valerie. "Boy, are you guys going to get in trouble. Look at your get-up!" she said with a sneer, staring at their black clothes. Yuffie pushed her way to the front. Everyone seemed to be frozen.  
  
"Valerie, get lost. You're not allowed out now just as we aren't, so you should probably get lost," Yuffie said softly, remembering Sheryl's open window.  
  
"That's where you're wrong," she replied in an equally soft voice, stepping to the side to reveal—  
  
"—Sheryl?!"  
  
"Hello, girls. Thank you, Valerie, for giving me the wonderful tip-off," Sheryl said with a smile to Valerie, who tossed her silky black hair with an arrogant grin.  
  
"No problem, Sheryl."  
  
"As for you four...I'm not surprised. You have all got to be the most irresponsible—"Yuffie hid the underwear behind her back when she said this—"and ignorant counselors I have ever had. If I was in my right mind I would send you all back home!"  
  
"We're sorry, Sheryl..." Kairi murmured, dropping the bag onto the ground. "We should have never defied your rules..."  
  
"That's right," Sheryl said in a pleased tone. Yuffie scowled at Kairi. She shouldn't be sorry.  
  
"You four. In my office. Now," she said brusquely. "While I go inside and observe the damage and wake up the poor victims."  
  
Yuffie opened her mouth to tell Sheryl to stop, but it was too late. Sheryl had already grabbed the honey-smeared doorknob and pulled her hand back in surprise. "Ugh! Just—just go! Out of my sight!"  
  
They quickly left, Valerie watching them leave, waving her hand with a gloating smile.  
  
The office cabin was brightly lit, as if people were still up. Yuffie opened the door for everyone and stepped into the air-conditioned room, decorated with pictures of the old camp counselors, ugly plants, and the founder of Camp Kaman. A door that said Sheryl's office was ajar.  
  
Aerith walked inside and took a seat on a hard, wooden chair. Kairi, Vanera, and Yuffie followed suit. She seated herself uncomfortably in the seat and clasped her hands in front of her, sighing and leaning her head against the back of the chair.  
  
"We shouldn't have done this..." Aerith said with a groan. "I knew we would get in trouble."  
  
"It was fun, though," Vanera insisted with a sigh.  
  
"Hell yeah, it was!" Yuffie said enthusiastically.  
  
"I think Sheryl is disappointed in me..." Kairi said sadly.  
  
"So? Who cares what she thinks?"  
  
"Me."  
  
"Oh geez, Kai..."  
  
"Girls!"  
  
Yuffie turned quickly, almost breaking her neck in the process. Sheryl's voice had startled her. She was standing there, looking at each of the girls for a good few seconds each, making them all squirm uncomfortably, and probably looking like someone that had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.  
  
Sheryl pressed her lips together tightly and circled her desk until she got to her chair. She sat down slowly and stared at them. "So..."  
  
Yuffie suppressed the heavy urge to reply with a "So what?"  
  
"You defied me, and defied the rules and went and ransacked one of the boy's cabins. You thought it was fun, just a traditional camp thing, did you?" she asked with a deadly quiet voice. "If I had the authority...if I could...you four would be going home in tears."  
  
Yuffie's eyes widened. Was this woman mad? She had seemed so normal in the beginning; now she was threatening them. This was possibly something that the authorities should be alerted about. Was she violent? The way Kairi's face was set she guessed she was thinking along the same lines.  
  
"Now...your punishment. As I see that there are only three more days to the camp left...wait, correction. It is now past midnight. TWO days until you will be leaving my presence, maybe permanently." She paused and stared at them in turn once again. "This is a hard decision. I could send you home right now, I could make you clean more, or ridicule you in front of everyone in the entire camp."  
  
An idea suddenly struck Yuffie. Kind of like...reverse psychology.  
  
"No, Sheryl! P-p-please don't send me h-home! I just want to stay here! If I come home e-early, my p-parents will murder me!" Yuffie said a false terror.  
  
A wide, wicked smile spread across Sheryl's face, which was now filled with pleasure. "Is that so? Well...I suppose..." she said with a hardly concealed pleasure, "that we will just have to send you on your way." She reached for her walkie-talkie and pressed a dark button, saying, "Linda, please pack all of the items not belonging to the camp in their cabin. Look up the name Kisaragi on the accommodations list; I'm not sure what cabin they're all in. Over and out."  
  
A short, crackly reply came. "Roger that. Over and out."  
  
Sheryl smiled and placed her hands in front of her, sighing like she was disappointed. Yuffie rolled her eyes and glanced at her friends. Kairi and Aerith looked ashamed and horrified, while Vanera looked indifferent.  
  
In about ten minutes, a short knock on the door startled them out of their reverie. A woman with blonde hair came into the room, grunting as she pulled in five large suitcases, stopping to go back and get some more in the hall.  
  
"Thank you, Linda," Sheryl said curtly. Linda tried giving her a smile, but it turned into an unhappy grimace as she walked out of the room, rubbing her back.  
  
"These suitcases are yours, correct?"  
  
"Yes," they said shortly in unison.  
  
"Good. I advise you get going. No need to say goodbye to your kids, they deserve better than the likes of you," she said coolly, standing up and striding over to her office door, holding it open for them, waving her arm. Yuffie stood up, clutching her suitcases and yanked them out the door, returning Sheryl's glare with an even nastier one. Who had ever heard of getting kicked out of summer camp for doing something as pathetic as fooling around with a boy's cabin?  
  
As quickly as they all could, they quickened their pace and dragged their suitcases onto the gravelly surface of the parking lot silently, without a word. Yuffie spotted her car quickly, but instead of going over to it, she frowned and dropped her suitcases.  
  
"What's wrong, Yuf?" Kairi asked softly.  
  
Yuffie bit her lip. "I'll miss you guys. This was a good way to end the summer camp, with a bang. Sort of. Well...causing trouble like we always used to, eh?"  
  
Kairi smiled and hugged Yuffie around the neck. She hugged back and hugged Vanera and Aerith.  
  
"I'll see you guys later. Make sure to call me!" Yuffie said in an exasperated tone. "You guys make me do all the calling."  
  
"Okay," Kairi said with a laugh, giving Yuffie one last hug before giving them all an enthusiastic wave before running to her car just as rain started pouring again. Aerith's eyes widened. She gave a wave and ran to her car, her dress clinging to her skin, and water dripping from her hair.  
  
Vanera waited a couple of seconds before leaving, and gave Yuffie a smile before slowly making her way to her car, not bothering to run.  
  
A piece of wet, white paper with smudged ink on the sides was just under the tip of Yuffie's toe. Curiously, she bent over and picked it up. She was certain it hadn't been there before. Frowning, she turned it over and tried to make out the ink stains that had been blotted by the water. The only words she could read were:  
  
Love you. Riku.  
  
Yuffie raised her eyebrows. So Vanera had been Riku's mystery boyfriend? Maybe that was why she had hardly ever been around. Raising her eyes and waving the letter in her hand, she tried to alert Vanera, but the parking lot was empty but for the buses and her own car.  
  
She dropped the letter into a mud puddle and sprinted to her car, fumbling for her keys in her suitcase. Her fingers brushed over an old rag, which jogged a memory within her mind. She leaned against the car. She had forgotten Squall. She couldn't leave Squall without saying goodbye, get his address to write, without finding out if what they had only happened because it had been the summer camp fever.  
  
On impulse, before she could change her mind, she dashed up the path to get to the cabins, avoiding the office where she could see Sheryl's silhouette in the window, talking on the phone. The rain dripped off her hair, just like that night...  
  
Finally, she reached the cabin. Remembering the honey on the doorknob, she walked around to the side to a window that had carelessly been left open and crawled through. Her grip was wet and slippery, and before she knew what she was doing, she had started to fall and gripped the curtains, which were already covered in shaving cream, and fell to the ground with a loud thump.  
  
Gripping the side of her head and opening one eye to see if anyone had woken up, she slowly raised herself upright. No one had stirred. She stumbled over to Squall's bed, whose face was barely visible. She tenderly brushed her lips against his jaw, enveloped in his scent.  
  
Yuffie was about to kiss him again when she saw a firm hand dart out from the blanket and grab her wrist. She gasped and fell backwards, utterly surprised. She thought Squall was sleeping.  
  
"D-don't do that to me!" she managed to whisper, righting herself for the last time. A look of amusement flickered across his eyes.  
  
"Sorry. What are you doing in here?"  
  
"I've come to say goodbye."  
  
The amusement faded away almost at once. Squall's penetrating blue eyes studied her. "What?"  
  
"I've gotten into some big trouble and she finally kicked me...and Aerith, Kairi, and Vanera out."  
  
"What did you do?" he asked with the shake of his head. Yuffie blushed.  
  
"Look down at your covers."  
  
Slowly, his gaze lowered from her to his sheets. He pushed them away and ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. "Jesus, look at the place..."  
  
It was true; they had made a real mess of things. Yuffie bit her lip. "Look...I'm sorry. But I need to know if what we have is going to last. I mean...did we just kiss because it was the rain and the pine trees, or is there something between us?"  
  
He studied her seriously. "I...don't know."  
  
His answer made Yuffie let out a whoosh of breath. She sat down on the hardwood flooring and rested her fingers on the edge of his bed. "So it was...nothing?"  
  
"No, I didn't say that. I'm saying...I'm saying...I'm not sure."  
  
"I..." her voice cut off, unable to say it. Her throat felt tight and her eyes were dry, too dry.  
  
"Yuffie." Firm hands gripped her smaller, slender ones. "I have feelings for you. I do. I'm just not sure that it can work out."  
  
Yuffie nodded, her head dropping. His hands still held hers, but she was unwilling to greet his eyes. "Well...I...came to say...goodbye..."  
  
She pulled her hands away and hesitated, then hugged him, kissing his cheek. She turned, knowing that the look of pain on her face matched his own.

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This is it, this is the end! What did you think?! I seriously hope you liked this story, because now I love it that it's finished, and honestly, I wish it didn't have to end here. Am I evil for making that the ending? Am I? I don't think so....because...there's still an epilogue! Oh joy! Hey, you're supposed to be excited! Fine...be that way!  
  
P.S: Don't worry, the epilogue will make up for the sadness at the end.


	11. Epilogue

_I'm sorry if the epilogue is a disappointment, but...by the time I posted the last chapter the epilogue I had planned wouldn't work and I didn't want to go through the exhausting process of re-writing then deleting the other chapter and posting it, so I changed it around a little. I hope you do enjoy it, though!!!_

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_Summer Nights_

_Epilogue_

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Yuffie gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles white and shaky. The tear streaks on her cheeks resembled the ones that her windshield wiper continued to push away. The streets were almost empty, as it was late into the early morning and not many attempted to drive through horrible weather, or even drag themselves out of bed.

Again, the drive back home was a boring, yet easy one, but she didn't—couldn't—pay attention to the conditions. All her mind could think about his Squall. Her heart ached for his touch, but her brain kept telling her to forget about him. He was just some stupid guy who didn't give jack for her or anyone else but himself.

She pulled into the driveway and tiredly opened the door, grabbing her suitcases and slamming it shut again, hurrying inside her house. She turned the lock and opened the door, the warm scents of home comforting her. She hadn't realized how homesick she had been.

Before settling down to sleep that night, not even bothering to change out of her wet clothing, the last thing she thought was, _At least I can leave him and my memories back at Camp Kaman instead of constantly being reminded of him at home. _

The next week, Yuffie tore open the suitcase and started stuffing the clothes carelessly back into her dresser, discarding useless candy wrappers or pencil shavings. She had procrastinated stuffing everything back into its place and it had to be done. Many of the things she didn't even want anymore, like the string of Christmas lights she had hung on the walls or her old blanket. She needed a new one, anyway.

"Camp Kaman was a good thing for me. I learned about myself. And I left parts of me there...that I was never happy with in the first place," she said quietly after stuffing an old T-shirt into the drawer.

Later that day, she flipped through the mail, tossing bills on the counter for her parents to look at. An envelope with her name on it caught her eye. She tilted her head and read small, scribbly Aerith writing on the front of the envelope.

_Yuf, this was forwarded to me, and I thought you should have it. Squall didn't have your address but he had Cloud's, and he asked Cloud to send it to me, and then me to send it to you. Love Aerith. _

She frowned in confusion. What was it? She stuck her finger into the small opening and slit it with her fingernail, pulling out a small sheet of white paper and unfolding it carefully.

_Dear Yuffie, _

_I'm sorry for that night at the camp, a week ago. What I said was...wrong, and I know that I haven't always been nice to you or anyone else. _

_We never really exchanged addresses, but if you don't want to write me, I understand. _

_--Squall_

Yuffie smiled. That must have taken Squall a lot of guts to say. She sighed happily and grabbed the envelope, turning it over to stare at the return address, wondering how far away he lived. It might not be that expensive to call once in awhile.

_Squall Leonheart_

_Columbus__, __Ohio__, 4452_

_5203 Hollytin Road_

Yuffie put a hand to her mouth. She lived in Columbus, Ohio. And Squall never told her?! But he never knew...Maybe they wouldn't have to write to each other after all.


	12. Credits and Mentions

I had so much fun writing this story, and you reviewers made it all possible! You were my motivation throughout this story, and in a minute I would like to give a special thank you to my friend, Annjirika! She really supported me throughout this story and made me feel better when I really hated it. So thank you! Telled and moked!

And to my wonderful reviewers:

Dark Witch the Demented Angel

Infrared ray

Nina

himaco

ObsidianSorrows

pingpong867

Deplora

BlueEyedDemon1

SerenitylovesRiku

RikkuFF10

Bella

Annjirika

fanficlvr

shojotaku

Elvi-rose

ShatteredOasis

Natu-Aoki

krys

Kibou no Tenshi

gssff

Daggerly

DarkFlame666

SunMoon,EarthSky

QwickSilver

RegnoCuore

zilly

hulabloo

PureHikari

eclipsed

Chels

Peter the Muggle

Zanisha

writerofthefuture

FireSpirit

yuffie-91

Tiineiji Rin

SetsuntaMew

bara no konrei

and last but not least, Starling94!

(I hope I got everyone!!)

SO THANK YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING! Even if it was only once!

My next thank-you is to pingpong867, who helped me along a little bit, so I have to give squirrel-girl her recognition!

Also, I would like to thank my good friend Katherine for reading this story and telling me what she thought.

Love Always and Forever,

October!


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